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But maybe the most interesting side to Benedict’s defence of his 17th-century predecessors is imagining the furore if a similar attitude happened within Islam. If the leader of the Muslim world declared it was reasonable and just to have sentenced one of history’s greatest minds to execution, piles of commentators would be telling us this proved Islam was a medieval, ignorant creed incompatible with Western values. So why hasn’t Martin Amis written a pamphlet full of such pompous twaddle as, “Within Galileo’s studies of orbits lie you, me, our knowledgification, our triumphant cleverment. So as I consider this catechismic papal assault on braininess, I feel a soulful urge to squeeze every Redemptionista into a giant confession box and set fire to the bloody lot of them. Don’t you?”

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