Religion V Science

            During the seventeenth century, rational and ethical thinking opened the path to various innovative ideas, but was always confined to the limits set by religious authority. One profound idea that developed abruptly at this time period was the Scientific method, which impacted religious authority using scientific and philosophical knowledge to apply an explanation the world around it. New theories gave way to the possibility that religious beliefs could possibly be incorrect. Two major impacts that further declined the power of the Church were the two methods known as inductive and deductive reasoning.
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             In prior centuries, following the rules established by the church was a traditional way of life, but scientific breakthroughs were beginning to alter this way of living. Being in the position of absolute control, the Church had set up their political, economical, and religious beliefs on the people and enforced them strictly. No one dare challenged this system because it was the only foundation on which to live until the ideas of scientific reason were developed. According to religious beliefs, every planet, including the sun, revolved around the earth because it was the only planet created by God to be inhabited by life, but Copernicus opposed this idea by criticizing the original idea and stating that the earth revolves around the sun. Conflicting religious authority proved to many lower class citizens that the Church could be incorrect about other views besides religion and the impact of rational thinking began to take it's toll on society.
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             As time passed, more scientific achievements were accomplished, such as the theory of gravity and other astronomical discoveries, which further conflicted with authority, but an immense development was that of the scientific method. Francis Bacon first proposed the method of inductive reasoning. Bacon developed a plan that reorganized the sciences.