Essay Copernicus and the Lack of Freedom of Speech Before...

Freedom of Speech, Assembly, Petition, Press and Freedom of Religion was granted to us on 1791, but what about the time before that? What were people’s rights, did they even have any? Nicolaus Copernicus was one of the many people who lived through the early Reformation. During that time the Catholic Church controlled the people. Anyone who disobeyed the Catholic Church was either put into prison or even sentenced to death. The major concept that the Catholic Church held was the geocentric theory, that the Earth is the center of the universe. Their argument was that God had not only blessed humans with its nature but also granted humans a special place to live, which was in the center of the universe. However Copernicus was not completely†¦show more content†¦Although Copernicus’ theory was against the Catholic Church, some parts of it were still based on the beliefs of the Catholic Church. Part of his heliocentric model was that the Earth rotated from west to east in a perfect circle. Why from west to east? Copernicus believed this because simply it was commanded by God. Why a perfect circle? Copernicus shared this concept with many other astronomers. Astronomers believed that since God is perfect he made the planets orbit in a perfect shape, circle. This concept was later on corrected by Johannes Kepler, who was also very religious and he stated that the planets orbit in a perfect ellipse. If Copernicus was sure that the geocentric model was wrong then why did he hesitate to publish his model of heliocentric? The book mentioned that although Copernicus knew that the geocentric model was wrong he still had his doubts about his own model. Doubts concerning whether the heliocentric model was wrong or maybe incomplete. Researchers say that he hesitated because he was afraid that the Catholic Church would disagree with his model. However it might not be that he is afraid of being against the Catholic Church but he had a hard time considering that the Catholic Church had made a mistake. Copernicus’ had became so widely known for his work that people all around Europe were waiting eagerly for the complete publication of his heliocentric model, and because of him