"It vexes me when they would constrain science by the authority of the Scriptures, and yet do not consider themselves bound to answer reason and experiment."
"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use."
- Galileo Galilei (1615), Letter to the grand duchess Christina
What exactly was Galileo attempting to say about the conflict between science and the Roman Catholic Church, and why did he need to say it? How did the Scientific Revolution occur in Europe in the face of the Church's opposition, anyway.