"The Greeks’ Christian successors rejected the idea that the universe is governed by indifferent natural law… …and religion a far worthier study than the phenomena of nature. Indeed, in 1277 Bishop Tempier of Paris, acting on the instructions of Pope John XXI, published a list of 219 errors or heresies that were to be condemned. Among the heresies was the idea that nature follows laws, because this conflicts with God’s omnipotence. Interestingly, Pope John was killed by the effects of the law of gravity a few months later when the roof of his palace fell in on him."
— Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow in The Grand Design (via 14-billion-years-later)
