Wow, there are quite a few heretics out there, mostly from the Middles Ages. One of the more famous is Joan of Arc who was burned at the stake for heresy and sorcery. Another is Galileo who challenged the Church's notion that the sun revolved around the earth. He was imprisoned for life.
It's kind of funny actually, with Galileo. The Church made an apology about that in 1992. "Oops, we were wrong and you were right." With Joan of Arc, it only took 25 years from the date of her execution before she was retried and declared innocent. Kind of too late, but in 1920 she was canonized.
In 1992, Pope John Paul II apologized for a number of "church sins" including things like the Crusades and the Inquisition. Which is a nice gesture, but makes me wonder, why doesn't the Church just stop condemning and killing people, instead of apologizing after the fact?
Especially when it comes to things that really have nothing to do with faith. The sun around the earth thing was really an astronomical issue, not theological. The Church made it theological but... they really didn't have authority in astronomy. Today though, the Church forcefully wades into issues that are biological, psychological and sociological, convinced that it has some "truth" that is the "truth". But are those really theological issues? And if you don't agree with the church's "teaching" on issues like that, does that make one a heretic? Good question, eh?
Virgin birth of Jesus. Article of faith in the Catholic Church. Biological impossibility. Hmmm...
Homosexuality. "Intrinsically disordered" and "against the natural order" according to the Church. Genetic variation according to biology. Hmmm...
So, who wins? In the end, if we look at Galileo, science will win. Biology will win. Psychology will win. But in the meantime, how many will be declared heretics to satisfy the Church's blood-lust for "rightness? Good question...
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I was reading that the RC interpretation of homosexuality came directly from Carl Jung who began something called 'Analytical Psychology' however mainline SCIENTIFICALLY based psychology has distanced itself from him...his work was NOT based on scientific findings although some of his work is quite interesting...Still the Church follows Jung....You might find Jung's work "The Red Book' interesting..it is written in German calligraphy and then translated into English...and a very large and heavy volume. I still love the church because it is composed of humans who make terrible errors and still and as in the Old Testament God remains faithful to us: the whole church. I love when you get into this subject, Gigi...gets us thinking about who we truly are! You are really good at posing the sometimes difficult questions.
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