Astronomy and astrological studies - Essay Example

There is a constant eternal battle between scientific and religious beliefs. Christianity teaches that the heavens are in the sky, and with modernity people were seeing themselves as separate from the heavens and their past. Many were valuing an unknown future over facts of the past, and becoming more and more questioning. This curiosity led to wanting to understand the heavens and the stars more, which is why they developed astronomers. The first theory developed was the Ptolemaic Universe.

This describes a motionless earth surrounded by nine spherical containers of a sort. The seven closest ones were seen as different heavenly bodies which were observable to humans. The eighth was thought to be filled with stars and the ninth was the one with the ability to produce and keep the rotation around earth. Beyond these spheres, separate from the universe or otherworldly, were the heavens. They believed the heavens were made out of matter that couldn’t be found on earth. This matter did not follow the rules of physics on earth and the other planets below the moon, which were not yet recognized for what they are.

This theory was eventually rejected because it didn’t make sense because the other planets were clearly not making revolutions around the earth. They would appear to stop, slow down, or even change their course and go in the opposite direction. Religious astronomers fought to think of reasons for these movements, and their last conclusion was that each sphere was rotating around a fixed point which was rotating around earth. This universe helped to validate that humans were above all nature, and that God was above them.

It followed Christian teachings and made God seem powerful. Later, Nicolaus Copernicus broke the Ptolemaic theory by publishing a book about the revolutions of the planets. He changed the view of earth and the course of European studies. His argument was that the sun is the center of the universe, not humans, which was scientifically more reasonable in relation to their observations. People rejected his theory because it threatened religious beliefs. God was said to have made earth and humanity as unique things, and other worlds that could possibly be populated would disprove this.

His discovery led to people studying math and science more intensely. Most science complicates religious beliefs, so religious followers were questioning the legitimacy of either their God, or the science. This puts two people on opposite sides, younger people being more influenced by science, which causes issues in families. This works along with other effects to develop more of a change in social and biological relationships. How family isn’t always blood to people more in current society than before.

Another reason astrological studies caused problems with religion was because in a capitalist society people are always looking to make something new to get rich. With all these new jobs in the scientific field, it would be profitable for them to start following science instead of religion. Scientists can get money for how much they're working instead of Priests who just trick people into giving them money so they can go live in the heavens with God.