To read most of the popular press, religion has been at war with science since the time of Galileo. The fact is that most religious organizations have never been opposed to science and in fact promoted science. This is illustrated in a book I am reading—The Sun in the Church by J. L. Heilbron. He states that the Catholic Church gave more financial support to astronomy over six centuries (late Middle Ages thru the Enlightenment) than any other institution. Of course the reason for this generosity was the Church’s effort to determine a precise date for Easter but the Church was using science in this effort. [1] Many cathedrals were used as observatories—a hole in the roof and a meridian line on the floor was used to tell time and determine the precise length of the year. [2] The Church supported geography because it need to know where to spread the gospel. [3]
Part of the reason some people criticize the positions religion has taken concerning science in the past is because they are judging religion based upon our current knowledge of science, not based upon the scientific knowledge that was available in times past. I just read a book review in Sky and Telescope about Setting Aside All Authority. This is a new translation of Giovanni Battista Riccioli’s New Almagest (written in 1651) in which he discusses the arguments for and against heliocentrism (the planets revolve around the sun). At that time, heliocentrism could not explain all the observations made. On a strictly empirical basis and given the knowledge available at that time, geocentrism (the entire sky revolved around the earth) was as plausible as heliocenrism.
Sometimes this mindset about religion being at war with science gets old. Religion at times disagrees with the theories of science but theories are not facts. Demonizing those who disagree with your theories is a very unscientific way of trying to win a debate. Facts are a much better method.
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[1] J. L. Heilbron, The Sun in the Church, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999, p. 3.
[2] Ibid., p. 4.
[3] Ibid., p. 78.
[4] S. N. Johnson-Roehr, “Science vs. Science”, Sky & Telescope, October 2015, p. 65.
