In our country people now is the master and Lord of nature. Great communism building, constructed by the Soviet people under the plan of nature transformation specified by Stalin, change the face of our country. Water irrigated former barren desert, grow new forest, is changing the face of the earth.

But in the past the man has been a slave to nature. Not understanding the causes terrible and majestic natural phenomena, he thought they were taking place by the will of the powerful and invisible beings - gods. Even the heavenly bodies - the Sun, and the Moon was thought then that the deities, the messengers of the gods.

In honor of the sun churches were built, and he sacrifices were offered. The moon and now in the Muslim religion has a sacred value. Her image is Crescent - towering over the mosques and minarets.

Symbolic descriptions of the changes in the position of the sun above the horizon during the year were reflected in the Christian religion. So, the feast of the Passover was the feast of the resurrection of nature after the winter sleep under the action of the life-giving rays of the sun. Christmas was a holiday coming of the sun in such a position in the sky, when the days begin to arrive and the night is shortened.

Four of the Holy Apostle, as if describing the life of the legendary Christ, correspond with the four seasons, and twelve of his disciples correspond to the twelve months of the year, during which the sun makes the sky complete the circuit.

Religious, superstitious ideas that grew up on the basis of their ignorance, over a century and recorded in the so-called "sacred books", was issued for the truth, not to be discussed, and even more challenging. Religion taught that the Earth is stationary and is located in the center of the world, occupying a special position in the universe. Religion asserted that life exists only on Earth, and that the heavenly bodies specially created by God or gods for the benefit of people or for their pleasure - they light the days and nights and decorating the sky.

When brave thinkers sought to scientific approach to the study of the universe, the Ministers of the Church were up in arms against them and subjected them to persecutions and executions. People understood that if science is refuted religious view of the universe, described in the "sacred books", it will be refuted and all other claims of religion and eventually will collapse exploitatory structure of society that the Church was maintained.
About three centuries ago, the Italian scientist Galileo, famous for his discoveries in astronomy, physics and mechanics, was tortured and imprisoned for what dared to support the opening of the great Slav Copernicus.

Copernicus believed that the Earth moves and does not occupy a Central place in the universe, that is not located in an exceptional position, which she attributes to every religion. There are many heavenly spheres, such Earth - planets, and they all revolve around the Sun, said Copernicus.

Galileo, for the first time studied the heavenly bodies with the aid of a telescope, confirmed the hypothesis of Copernicus. What Galileo argued, undermine faith in the Holy Scripture, faith in the truth of ancient legends about the origin of the world and man. Even the opening of Galileo mountains on the moon caused displeasure and concern of the princes of the Church: having learned that on the moon, as on Earth, there are mountains and valleys, someone will think then on the moon should be and people. But in the "Holy Scripture says that the first people in the world came from Adam and eve, who were created by God, and says nothing about the origin of humans on the moon. Would that Scripture is either incorrect or incomplete, and in both cases the credibility of the entire claims of religion would have fallen. The Church decided to stop dangerous for her activities Galilee.

The scientist was forbidden not only free to print their books, but even to receive guests.
In Russia the study of the heavenly bodies was also persecuted by the Church. For example, in the beginning of XVI century was carrying only of Novgorod and Muscovites were executed on demand of the clergy for what they've read the books telling how to predict eclipses of the Sun on the tables describing the motion of the moon. The study of the science of celestial bodies were declared "magomedsalim".

However, the development of navigation was impossible without the development of astronomy, who spoke about how the provisions of the stars in the sky ship may find its position in the sea and keep in the right direction. So the merchant class was not interested in the complete suppression of science Church.
Besides, courageous human thought increasingly torn from religious bondage. Inquisitive mind of people, especially expanding your horizons acquaintance with other countries and customs, was convinced that the world is wide and varied, and sought to understand the nature surrounding it. Finding no answer to your questions in the "sacred books", people, despite the dangers and threats, were eager for knowledge, to the study of the world's own funds.

Religious oppression could not prevent the development of materialistic science, who denied the miraculous and inexplicable. Delaying the development of science, the Church still could not suppress it altogether. Human knowledge has developed the best thinkers of mankind, like Galilee not once suffered for their beliefs, but boldly calling forward to the light and knowledge, to abandon prejudices and superstitions - remnants of ancient ignorance.

Among these thinkers fighters belonged and our greatest scientist Mikhail Lomonosov. In tsarist Russia, the Church had a great influence and forbade the distribution of books concerned with ideas of Copernicus. Lomonosov boldly opposed the clergy and secured the publication of a number of books that talked about the true structure of the world. Lomonosov rose up in defense of the doctrine of Copernicus. In a witty poems he ridiculed the defenders of the theory of the ancient Greek scientist Ptolemy about the immobility of the Earth. The Ptolemy, as it is not contrary to Scripture, was approved by the Church.