Radorth

In a recent exchange:

This response totally begs the question. Being a Christian was no hindrance to Newton, Kepler, Faraday, et al. And it is no hindrance to the modern scientists listed here

http://xastanford.org/archives/000014.html

If you can tell me specifically how it has hindered them, you might have an argument.

Rad

Goliath

Have we forgotten Galileo and the Great Library of Alexandria?

Sincerely,

Goliath

Spaz

Being a christian is no hinderance if they do science right. Religion has nothing to do with science, the people that relate them are the ones that are a hinderance.

Jet Grind

I don't quite understand, are you saying that religion has been no hinderence whatsoever? If you are then I must you are in serious need of some history lessons.

Radorth

Galileo was a Chrsitian as well, and way ahead of his time, unlike any other group. The fact that he was persecuted by Catholic naysayers has little rational connection to the point.

Biff asserted on the other thread:

And I've just shown that is not so, unless you want to claim what is true now was not true in the 16th-19th centuries. If we look all the way back to Bacon, and even go back to Augustine's postulation of evolution, we see only a moderate hindrance even before the Reformation. In fact even they are more inspired than any other religious or non religious group until very recently, and even that is arguable.

Rad

lpetrich

I'm sure that Radorth would dismiss many of them as heretics if he was not trying to claim them as supporters. He'd dismiss every single Catholic as a "legalistic" idolator, and I'm not sure how he'd relate to Protestants who consider "speaking in tongues" a sign that one is sick in the head.

Goliath

Radorth,

Irrelevant. He was held back by the catholic church.

I've noticed that you've completely ignored my bringing up the Great Library of Alexandria as well. The sacking of the Great Library was a horrible atrocity that set science--hell, set knowledge itself--back many, many years.

Sincerely,

Goliath

lpetrich

Galileo was a Catholic, which means that to Radorth, he was a "legalistic" idolator.

Also, Galileo believed that the Bible tells us how to go to Heaven, not how the heavens go. However, Radorth's beliefs about the origin of species are the exact equivalent of believing that the Bible tells us how the heavens go.

Radorth

I don't say it was NEVER a hindrance. However I do say that after the Reformation, the greatest scientific/ math geniuses were Christians. Do you wish to argue that Newton would have accomplished even more if he were an atheist? If not, I'm afraid your argument is lost and it is you who need a history lesson.

There were famous atheist intellects like Voltaire around back when, so you cannot assert that "everybody had to be a Christian" as some skeptics like to argue.

Rad

Goliath

lpetrich,

Irrelevant, of course. When will xians learn that every xian is just as much of a xian as any other xian?

Sincerely,

Goliath