Science and Christianity: Friends Not Foes.
What do you think of when you hear the words Christianity and science thrown at you? If you are like the majority of the population you instantly form images of conflict or even outright feuds. As will be discussed further on in this paper, this common misconception has only surfaced within the past century. If the time is taken to look back at Christianity's history it is easily seen that Christianity has worked hand in hand with science to help promote its growth, not its stifle. The Christian monasteries maintained libraries, copied ancient manuscripts, employed astronomers and preserved the knowledge accumulated through the centuries of western civilization. In fact, in the past clergymen were often the only learned men in their society, and who else would be able to further technological development? However, Christianity had been helping science along before the time of clergymen. It appears it has stimulated scientific growth since the birth of the religion itself. .
During Christianity's Childhood Years.
Before the birth of Christianity there existed many polytheistic religions that were widely practiced. These pagan religions did not have very organized practices and were, quite frankly, usually irrational which made it hard to relate everyday life to. They consisted of Gods and Goddesses who reigned over humans. There were no organized laws concerning these religions, only some rituals which the people practiced to please the Gods. The only explanation for the Gods came from myths and legends made up by the followers and these stories often did not explain where these Gods came from or the manner of the world. This state of disorder made it hard for people to comprehend a world that had rules in itself that could be discovered and explained. This is ultimately what science is and does for humans is explain how the world works.
