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Monday, December 7, 2009

Magellan Quote

"The Church says the Earth is Flat,
But I know that it is Round,
For I have seen the Shadow On the Moon,
And I have more Faith in a Shadow Than in the Church."

- Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521)


I know, this could be viewed as being anti-religious, but I disagree. What's more, I am a firm believer that religion and science can coexist, as long as religion sticks to matters of faith and science sticks to matters of logic and reasoning.

2 comments:

Vicente Calibo de Jesus said...

Magellan quote a fabrication

The quote is a fabrication of Robert Green Ingersoll. It is found in his essay “Individuality.” This may be accessed at http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/robert_ingersoll/individuality.html
It’s in the fourth paragraph of his essay:

“It is a blessed thing that in every age some one has had individuality enough and courage enough to stand by his own convictions, -- some one who had the grandeur to say his say. I believe it was Magellan who said, "The church says the earth is flat; but I have seen its shadow on the moon, and I have more confidence even in a shadow than in the church." On the prow of his ship were disobedience, defiance, scorn, and success.”

It is not just a fabrication, it is a blatant mistake. The Church never declared the earth was flat. For thousands of years it was known that earth was round, thus the meridians of longitude and latitude by Eratothenes. Only the ignorant and uneducated thought the earth was flat.

There is no source outside of Ingersoll where such a quote can be found.

What the Church proclaimed as dogma is the mistkaken notion the earth was center of the universe.

VICENTE CALIBO DE JESUS
ginesdemafra@gmail.com

Stephen Albert said...

Vincente...I appreciate your setting the record straight on the Magellan quote. While I suppose that I should research the issue further, I'm going to take your word for it. Why not? You seem like you are well versed on all things Magellan. Besides, my real point...made vicariously through the (bogus) Magellan quote...was that Religion and Science both had a place in society.

Again, thanks for setting the record straight!