User:Ed Poor/myth that Christianity is anti-scientific


 * 1) Myth of the Flat Earth: It is "common knowledge" that in the Dark Ages and Middle Ages, Christian Europe was dominated by belief in a Flat Earth. Fortunately, Columbus proved that the Earth is round.
 * 2) The Galileo affair is proof that the Catholic Church opposes science. It was not until the 20th century that the Pope admitted the church's historical mistake.

That Galileo was a pushy little bastard who made science intrude into the realm of theology

 * until Galileo forced the issue into the realm of theology, the Church had been a willing ombudsman for the new astronomy. It had encouraged the work of Copernicus and sheltered Kepler against the persecutions of Calvinists. Problems only arose when the debate went beyond the mere question of celestial mechanics.


 * Galileo would not have been in so much trouble if he had chosen to stay within the realm of science and out of the realm of theology. But, despite his friends’ warnings, he insisted on moving the debate onto theological grounds.

that Christianity was a motivating force behind the birth of modern science
Science is a precarious enterprise that cannot get off the ground unless first given permission by philosophers and theologians. And this permission has been granted but once in history: by the great Catholic thinkers of the Middle Ages.