[Serious] Giordano Bruno

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

I agree that there is a common misconception that Bruno was executed for his scientific views.  But let's not lose sight of the fact that he was executed for the heinous crime of thinking and speaking in a non-approved manner.  

What's worse - to promulgate an erroneous notion about history, or to burn someone alive for being partially correct about the universe?

Boru

Should they have burned him?

No.

Should we lie about it? 

No.

I don't think it's a lie so much as an error (not all untrue statements qualify as lies).  It isn't as if there's some vast, nefarious conspiracy to paint Bruno as something other than what he was. People are simply lazy in general, and regarding historical accuracy in particular.  It's never a bad idea to set the record straight (tip o' the hat to you for doing it), but this is really a tempest in a tea pot, like George Washington's wooden teeth or Dick Whittington's cat.

Bruno may not have been a martyr to science, but he was certainly a martyr to freethought.

Boru