Did the Catholic Church give us MODERN science?

Question

I don't think there's any single institution that contributed more to the development of science than the Catholic Church.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_and_science#Sponsorship_of_scientific_research

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Roman_Catholic_cleric-scientists

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Catholic_scientists

Even at present, the Catholic Church owns the most prestigious international scientific organization which houses the most respected scientists in the world.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontifical_Academy_of_Sciences

And people have the audacity to spread lies against the Church.

Answer 1

Pretty much. Like then or not the Catholics produced some of the greatest philosophical and scientific minds in history, and that doesn't even consider all the charity and hospitals.

Answer 2

Yes, and no. The Irish (and other) monks preserved a *lot* of material after the fall of Rome, for which I'm eternally grateful. So much was lost, and much more could have been lost if not for their action. At the same time, the Church has a long history of opposing a wide assortment of scientific attempts, up to and including trying people for heresy for proposing things like the heliocentric model of the universe. As the sciences became popular (due to patronage by the rich/nobles), the Church started a love/hate relationship with science - accepting it, conditionally, so long as it wasn't perceived as threatening the Church's accepted stance. All told, the Church is responsible both for saving information, and for destroying it.

Answer 3

The Roman Catholic Church did everything in its power to squelch modern science. It banned the works of Copernicus and Kepler, and placed Galileo under house arrest.



That's why the scientific revolution occurred in the Protestant countries of Northern Europe, while the Catholic Countries of the south languished.



Throughout it's history, the Roman Catholic Church has always placed dogma before science, and has been its enemy throughout the modern world.

Answer 4

Certainly many of the founders of modern science were Catholics. I would perhaps be a little broader and say that Christianity gave us modern science through its belief in a single rational and consistent creator which suggested that the world itself would be orderly and understandable.



The case of Galileo was when the church had actually accepted the science of the day which taught geocentricism, so it was an unfortunate example of the church supporting incorrect mainstream science. This case is usually cited as an example because it is one of the very few examples that support the "warfare hypothesis".

Answer 5

The opposite is in fact true. The Catholic church persecuted and tortured any scientist who discovered anything that did not fit with their view of the bible. Such Scientists moved to Protestant countries and especially England where they were not only able to work but were also paid to do so. By the time of the Armada England had for superior guns and ships that enable England to capture America. The eventual outcome of all this scientific advancement was the Industrial Revolution at which point England left everyone behind and became the worlds biggest Empire.

Look at all the countries where the Catholics were dominant and you will see countries which were both backward and poor.

Answer 6

Depends what you mean by "modern" science. Christopher Columbus was a good Catholic, yet he worked with a value of the size of the Earth that was about 30% too small. The size was worked out by Eratosthenes (a Greek) in 240 BC to within 4% of its true value, and in the 700s AD by an Arabic scholar (Muslim, of course) within 1% of its true value.



The Roman Catholic Church was dead against the idea that the Earth was not the centre of all things, thus could not believe astronomers who said that the Earth revolved around the Sun. Look up Copernicus and Galileo.



In many ways, in late medieval times, the Roman Catholic Church was against the idea of examining natural phenomena in order to try to explain them. As far as the R C Church was concerned, God has created the world and mankind, etc, and therefore everything could be explained by reference to God.



I am glad to note that the RCs have over recent centuries mended their ways of thinking, but be under no illusions about their involvement in trying to suppress advanced ways of thinking for many centuries.

Answer 7

I strongly believe that the Holy Roman Catholic Church is just one of a multitude of different sources that have contributed to our knowledge of modern science.................... You also need to remember that the Holy Roman Catholic Church condemned a multitude of difference scientist and put them to death for their research into modern science and the Catholic Church called those men and women heretics and that too was part of the Holy Roman Catholic Church history..................

Answer 8

your claim that the catholic church "contributed" to the development of science is based on a false premise



That the church was active in the development- it wasnt - It was passive and controlling



It was a requirement that the scientists of the day were RC-

The RC controlled learning and production of books and only educated those who were RC



Far from "contributing" this restricted the development of science

On top of which scientists were only allowed to conduct science that conformed to the teaching of the church, with risk of excommunication if they did not comply (i,e no further access to scientific literature)

(being in control of books scientific books had to be written in latin; This immediately restricted its authors and readership to the educated and therefore RC scientists)



I have no idea how far science would have progressed if the RC church had not existed- the only thing I am certain of is that it would have progressed a hellova lot further than it did

Answer 9

Scientific progress did not require the magical fantasies of religions. Ask Galileo who got criticized by the pope for discovering our planet orbits the sun. Religions are only good for getting in the way of human progress.



Today virtually all the best scientists are normal, aka atheist. Many centuries ago everyone was god-soaked including scientists. Those scientists made discoveries despite their religious beliefs, not because of those beliefs.



Newton was very religious and he was brilliant. Unfortunately because of his belief in a magical being, he gave up and invoked his Magic Man when he couldn't solve a problem with orbits. A century later another scientists solved Newton's problems without the god hypothesis. My point is religions are totally worthless.



Those scientists working for the Vatican would still be scientists if the Vatican didn't exist. The world does not need magical fantasies. Magic is not real.



One more thing that's off topic. The idiots who change the categories of questions are idiots whether or not they are atheist idiots or Christian idiots. They should all drop dead especially the atheists who disgrace atheism.

Answer 10

Are you refering to the lies like when Galileo claimed the earth rotated around the sun which was against Catholic church teachings so the Pope had him thrown in prison for the rest of his life.

Answer 11

(Wearily) "It banned the works of Copernicus and Kepler, and placed Galileo under house arrest."

It (the Church) didn't quite.... Kepler was a Protestant who refused to convert to Catholicism but he was employed and protected by the Catholic Emperor Rudolph II, and offered a post at the University of Padua. Copernicus was in minor orders in the Catholic Church. When his heliocentric theories were relayed to Pope Clement VII the Pope was delighted with him. Copernicus dedicated his masterwork 'De revolutionibus' to Pope Paul III. Only some eighty years later some protests were raised against heliocentrism - they were also raised by Protestants including Luther, Calvin and Melancthon (although his objection seems to have been as much to the fact that Copernicus was Polish as to a belief that he was wrong).

Now. Galileo. The Pope was happy enough with Galileo's theories until he decided to publish them in the form of a dialogue between himself and the Pope, under a name that can be roughly translated as 'Silly Big Thicko'. It was very wrong of the Pope to take offence at this - but understandable. Galileo was condemned to house arrest, but allowed to choose which houses he had to stay in. He was also supposed to repeat the Penitential Psalms every few weeks, but one of his daughters (both nuns) petitioned the Inquisition that she should be allowed to say them for him, and they agreed. Galileo was allowed visitors, including John Milton. His researches were continued at the Vatican Observatory.

As to scientific papers being published in Latin, of course they were. Latin was the lingua franca of the scientific world, not the private language of the Church. Everyone who had any education learned Latin, and the advantages of writing a book in Germany, France or Italy in a language that could be understood by an educated person anywhere in Europe are fairly obvious.

If someone would like to furnish me with a list of 'persecuted and tortured' scientists I would be very happy to see it.

And the church never had a problem with Darwinism. Why would she?

The suggestion that England had better guns and ships than Spain is nonsense. The Armada wasn't out gunned or out-sailed, it was beaten by the weather. The Vatican had a foundry, and and was as expert in making cannon as any other power.

Answer 12

Hardly. They were (and still are) very conservative. Galileo has already been mentioned. At the Darwin sesquicentennial, 1959), Jaroslaw Pelikan, S.J., told us we had to be patient because it took so long for the church to realize that Galileo was right. Sure enough it took them less than two centuries to come to the same conclusion about Darwin.

Answer 13

As far as religions go, The Catholic church has been relatively progressive with the acceptance of science. I believe, though, that this is because they have a stronger organizational "machine" and a history and culture of propagation. They know that concessions have to be made to stay relevant



I think the Catholic church has promoted science as a tool to help the poor and the sick, but as science edges closer to the realms of god and life, you are quickly seeing the catholic church curtail its support

Answer 14

Religion itself is all about having the audacity to spread lies.



Classic switcheroo.

Answer 15

Do you see televisions or computers in the church? I didn't think so.