Most of the pioneers of science and rational thinking were religious. One can believe in one thing based on logic and evidence and still have beliefs that aren’t as well grounded. Newton was a genius and paved the way for so many things, yet dabbled in the mystics and alchemy. Doesn’t downplay his science work.
Most of them were forced to be religious or they’d be burned alive as heretics.
How many were actually atheists? Id wager most
Also, for a long time one of the only ways a non-rich person could get an education was by joining the clergy
Yep.
If you weren’t doing science under the church, the church was rarely happy someone was doing science.
Everything had to be approved by the church at every step. Not just science, but often art as well.
I really wonder what scientific discoveries the Vatican has stored away in their vaults
They don’t know the difference between:
because
vs
despite
Counter point: Galileo.
I was not aware of Giordano Bruno. 😮
Bruno was tried for heresy by the Roman Inquisition on charges of denial of several core Catholic doctrines, including eternal damnation, the Trinity, the divinity of Christ, the virginity of Mary, and transubstantiation. Bruno’s pantheism was not taken lightly by the church,[2] nor was his teaching of metempsychosis regarding the reincarnation of the soul. The Inquisition found him guilty, and he was burned alive at the stake in Rome’s Campo de’ Fiori in 1600.
The Roman Inquisition still exists, though they have gone through a few name changes and are now called the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. They have the same goal, but they don’t have as much power so they can’t get away with murdering people anymore.
That’s an impressive list! And the last person listed only died two hundred and thirty years ago!
The Catholic priest Georges Lemaitre, who died in 1966, discovered the Big Bang.
Werner Heisenberg, died in 1976, on of the creators of quantum physics, was Lutheran.
Ernest Walton, who died in 1995, proved that E=mc², was Methodist. Nobel prize in physics.
John Eccles, Nobel prize in Physiology, who died in 1997, was a devout Christian.
Just to name a few… That doesn’t prove anything, but yes one can be scientist, and a good one, and believe in God.
The Catholic priest Georges Lemaitre, who died in 1966, discovered the Big Bang.
In Steven Hawkings’ book A Brief History of Time, Hawking described meeting with the Pope and the Pope told him how the Big Bang theory was great but don’t go searching for the cause of the Big Bang.
I think that perfectly illustrates the difference between scientists who are religious and the Church itself.
It shows a lack of imagination considering brane theory posits the big bang event was a natural event in a larger manifold and Hawking suggests the axis of time we know started with the big bang. There is no before for anything to exist, including God.
The Church (we should even say “the Churches”) is a very complex structure. However you’re partly right, and as an institution, the Catholic Church tends to be quite conservative, but it’s still better than most Evangelical Churches, which are against science altogether…
Still, I have read an article (I can search it if you are interested) that showed that 30% of professional scientists were affiliated to a religion. It’s far less than the general population, but it’s not nothing; religion and science can work together, as long as both stay in their line.
I think the whole Galileo Galilei affair demonstrates the attitude of the Church before and after the fact. Didn’t the RCC finally forgive him (irrespective of admitting he was correct) in the 1990s?