"Christianity - Is it Opposed to Science?" Part I

Part One

Christianity Opposes Science

The notion by those critical of Christianity is that the Church has opposed and continues to oppose science.  The idea is that during the Dark Ages the Church of Rome was opposed to scientific investigation and that then lead to a current anti-intellectual and anti-scientific mind set on the part of some elements of the Christian church. 

The argument is that the period which has been titled the Dark Ages, seems devoid of scientific discovery and the growth.  It is said that such a consequence is because the Church was not scientifically progressive.  It further suggests that the Church limited its vision to what is in Holy Scripture had to say about Science.   

Thus the there are the 1,000 years in which the body of knowledge ceased to grow.  That assumption is then brought up to date with some pretty general statements about where Christianity is today.

As well various quotes and anecdotal examples are provided in support of the claims of the position.  The outcome is what is viewed as a legitimate position on the place of the Church in restricting science.

The Given of Science

Before looking into the accuracy of the above claims, take a moment and consider this question.  Does not science require order?  In other words, how could there be science if there was only the condition of randomness?  Of course most people understand that the basis of any genuine science is order.  Every law and rule of science presupposes order. 

The question then becomes this.  How did the world of science gain such order in light of the tendency of systems, physical and otherwise, to degrade into randomness and then into chaos?  How then can one defend the notion of order coming from randomness when there is not one shred of evidence to support such a claim? 

Why the Dark Ages of Science?

To understand why Western Europe struggled in this approximately 1,000 years of little if any scientific progress, one must consider the periods prior to the Dark Ages and the period following.

The Greek Period:  This is not the period of time during which Alexander the Great ruled but the period of time in which Greek writings were broadly circulated.  The body of scientific knowledge was recorded using the Greek language.

The Roman Period:  Some equate the beginning of the Dark Ages with the decline and eventual disintegration of the Roman Empire.  While that certainly had an effect there is a much greater issue involved.

The Great Schism of 1054 AD.  Consider the following observation.

“The story of the Middle Ages is a story of extremely slow recovery from the collapse of the Roman Empire. The thousand year lull in scientific progress could probably have been shortened if the Church had not been split into the same two parts as the Empire. The Roman Church had the scholars (the potential scientists). The Eastern Orthodox Church had the Greek language (the scientific language and the scientific texts). There was very little connection between the two branches of the Church. After the permanent split in 1054 (the Great Schism), the original Greek texts were almost lost as the Turks took over the Byzantine Empire.”

The author goes on to say

“The Church was not deliberately anti-scientific, only passively indifferent to science (as long as it respected the authority of the Church).  In fact, most of the scientists of the Middle Ages were Christian monks or priests.  Natural Philosophy (which was what science was called) was considered to be an acceptable extension of theological investigation Into God's work of creation. The exaggerated mythical conflict between science and the Church has done much to create the conflict that now exists. Most of the conflicts between the Church and science have been battles of extremes and extremists — involving attitudes and politics more than theology and heresy.”

Curtis, Harold, Following the Cloud, p.115

Therefore to lay the anti-intellectual and anti-scientific claim on the steps of the Church is less than accurate.  But then when your science is agenda driven as it is today (e.g. the global warming hoax), what else would one expect in the treatment of science’s history.

But what about the end of the Dark Ages?  Again the one with agenda will cite the Renaissance but again there is more than the biases of an “historian” to consider.

Those who popularize the notion that the Renaissance was the key to unlocking the influence of supernatural evils foisted upon the European populace are once again guilty of distorting history in order to support the unsupportable.

Renaissance Period Science

The truth of the matter is that the Renaissance began in the 14^th Century by focusing primarily upon recapturing the arts to include literature as had been practiced in the Roman Empire and the proceeding Greek Empire.  While there was scientific study for the most part it relied heavily upon previous scientific study and such as we left of it. 

A survey of lists of scientific accomplishment and discoveries in this period, will show that very little in terms of genuine advances in Science occurred.

Reformation Period Science

Later the Protestant Reformation and the Roman Catholic Counter Reformation (16^th Century) would occur.  Though there had been other religious movements, these movements had the effect of breaking open the religious culture and thus setting the stage for other movements outside of the Church such as would occur some two centuries later.

On October 31, 1517 Martin Luther nailed his 95 thesis to the door of the Castle Church of Wittenberg.  Beginning shortly thereafter discoveries and advances took place in such varied subjects as human anatomy, microbiology, physics, and astronomy.  So began advances in science that would extend far into the future and more and more insights and understandings of the natural world took place. 

Examples

For example, Vesalius makes discoveries about human anatomy (1538), Copernicus discover the earth revolves around the sun (1543), Galileo discovered laws of falling objects (1604) and that Jupiter has moons (1609), Kepler discovers that planets have elliptical orbits (1609), Harvey discovers the human circulatory system (1628), Newton discovers laws of uniform gravity (1666), and Leeuwenhoek discovers microbes (1674) to name a few. 

Enlightenment Period Science

It was not until the 18^th Century, two centuries later that the Age of Enlightenment would arise and gain traction with the writings of Spinoza, Locke, Voltaire and others.  It was now that science continued to gain insights and understanding as men like Newton, Halley, Linnaeus, Herschel, and Jenner make new discoveries and/or build upon the previously mentioned discoveries.  However, unlike the previous periods Science now sought to explain the natural world without the Scriptures.  This instead of science explaining the Scriptures.  So it is that the movement toward secular Science gained a footing.

Light in the Darkness

What those who are so critical of the Church might ask themselves is just who was it that preserved such knowledge as had been discovered? 

So it would appear that secular science as we have today arrived on the scene much later than the Renaissance, much later by as much as two or even three centuries.  But that is not the only problem with this line of thinking.  Take for example the case of Galileo which well be discussed in the following blog.

Background

To see the list of subjects to be discussed in this series see my blog (Christianity – Is it a Faith Driven by Fear?).  Contained within that blog is a reference, 20 Reasons to Abandon Christianity and in that reference is a list which is the springboard from which this subject has been discussed.