The Claim: “The dark ages were
a time of ignorance and superstition, thanks to religion’s negative influence
on scientific progress.”
The Truth: Atheist writer Tim
O’Neill responds to this claim in his review of “God’s
Philosophers”:
“It’s not hard to kick this
nonsense to pieces, especially since the people presenting it know next to
nothing about history and have simply picked up these strange ideas from
websites and popular books. The assertions collapse as soon as you hit them
with hard evidence. I love to totally stump these propagators by asking them to
present me with the name of one – just one - scientist burned, persecuted, or
oppressed for their science in the Middle Ages. They always fail to come up
with any. They usually try to crowbar Galileo back into the Middle Ages, which
is amusing considering he was a contemporary of Descartes. When asked why they have
failed to produce any such scientists given the Church was apparently so busily
oppressing them, they often resort to claiming that the Evil Old Church did
such a good job of oppression that everyone was too scared to practice science.
By the time I produce a laundry list of Medieval scientists – like Albertus
Magnus, Robert Grosseteste, Roger Bacon, John Peckham, Duns Scotus, Thomas
Bradwardine, Walter Burley, William Heytesbury, Richard Swineshead, John
Dumbleton, Richard of Wallingford, Nicholas Oresme, Jean Buridan and Nicholas
of Cusa – and ask why these men were happily pursuing science in the Middle
Ages without molestation from the Church, my opponents usually scratch their
heads in puzzlement at what just went wrong.”
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