But that the same God has endowed us with senses, reason, and understanding, does not permit us to use them, and desires to acquaint us in any other way with such knowledge as we are in a position to acquire for ourselves by means of those faculties, that it seems to me I am not bound to believe . . . and this is precisely the case with astronomy. Why does Galileo believe God approves of his discoveries? God does not want Galileo to believe in him. God created the stars, so he created astronomy. God showed Galileo the workings of the universe. God gave humanity the ability to make such discoveries.

The correct answer is D. God gave humanity the ability to make such discoveries.

Explanation:

In the excerpt, Galileo explains God provided humans with certain abilities or faculties such as "senses, reason, and understanding", and based on this, he believes God wanted humans to use these abilities to discover and understand the world. This idea is explained in "as we are in a position to acquire for ourselves by means of those faculties" that shows Galileo considered the faculties given by God were meant to be used, and due to his he used them to make important discoveries in Astronomy Thus, the that best explains why Galileo believed God approved his discoveries is "God gave humanity the ability to make such discoveries."