Christianity didn't cause science


Christian apologists commonly claim that without Christianity, there would be no science, no scientific revolution; this, because the values and knowledge provided by Christianity are the necessary source of science. This claim is false.

And likewise for democracy, the claim that Christianity caused democracy. This is also false.

Back then, at the advent of the scientific revolution, Christianity taught:

  1. The world was created in six days.
  2. All the "kinds" of animals were created then.
  3. A firmament as a solid dome over the earth; with the sun, moon, and stars inside; and supporting the water above (which rained by leaking through tiny holes).
  4. A global flood as the source of all the fossils and geological landforms.

Science came into existence with the ancient Greeks, specifically Aristotle, and was improved by the Romans (Galen is a good example of a Roman scientist). All the elements of the scientific method were in use back then.

In the early days of science (including Aristotle, Galen, and Copernicus), many of their hypotheses were incorrect. For example, Copernicus taught that the earth's orbit was a circle (it is actually an ellipse). But the nature of science is that it continually corrects mistakes as new observations are made using improved instruments and better measurements, and with additional experiments.

I should note: science was called philosophy until the late 1800s.

Christianity at the time of the scientific revolution acted as a counterweight, suppressing new ideas, and discouraging criticisms of existing church-sanctioned views. For example, in astronomy, the Church backed the view that the earth is the center of the solar system (and universe).

Compared with modern scientific views, it is easy to see many errors in the viewpoints of scientists (natural philosophers) during the scientific revolution as well as back to Roman and Greek times. But the point is not whether there were errors, but rather, whether Christianity provided the key incentives and worldview to support the scientific revolution. It did not. The scientific revolution would have occurred even without Christianity.

The claim that Christianity ushered in the scientific revolution is false.

. . . . .

And ditto for democracy. The Church (Catholic and Protestant) was not democratic. There is no hint of democracy in the Bible.

The source for democracy is the ancient Greeks. The Romans were also democratic.

The claim that Christianity is the source of democracy is false.