Has organized religion held back human development in science and society?

Answer 1

It did in the past. Galileo was put under a life sentence of house-arrest, and was forced to recant his findings about the Earth and the cosmos. It was either that or burnt at the stake for heresy.

Answer 2

I would agree that the pride in orthodoxy that organized religion has had has held back human development in science and society.

True religion is beneficial to the individual and society by providing services to the people and teaching compassion as well as altruism. For many scientists, it was finding out and understanding the mystery of God that led them to their discoveries. In that light, religion has also been very helpful to mankind.

One day we will find a better way to help humanity through the ministry of religion while at the same time rejecting our own pride in the detrimental crystallization of truth for the embracement of uncertainty and acceptance of growth we find when we look for the truth whether it conflicts with our currently held beliefs or not.

Answer 3

Yes. Many great men and women were murdered and imprisoned for proving things that went against the church. Nicolaus Copernicus and Giordanno Bruno were executed as heretics and Galileo Galilee was imprisoned merely for proving that the Earth revolved around the sun and was not the center of the universe as The Church had long claimed.


Even to this day Stem Cell research is held down by our theocratic society as is genetic engineering and other scientific achievements that may hold our key to greater understanding and cures of many of our diseases all because a few imbiciles still want to hold on to asinine fairy tales from 2,000 years ago.

Answer 4

That idea has a two fold answer.

In some respects, it has. We did not develop as quickly as we could have, nor did we create the definitive society.

But, looking at history, maybe it was meant to be that way. Could you imagine Genghis Khan with a laptop and a nuclear device? Or Hitler with an H Bomb? Or Napoleon with limited nuclear devices and AK47s? What do you think the outcome would have been?

Do you think we would have survived to today if we had developed science and technology earlier in our history?

It may not be the way we would like to have developed, and we probably would have been better off if organized religion had not been the tool of choice, but we needed something or, I think, we may not be here today to debate this.

Answer 5

Yeah it has and yeah it will.

Right now science is ITCHING to do INTELLEGENT DESIGN.

They can't wait to start playing with the Genomes and DNA and see what they can clone or create in the lab.

First, we might create an Abola. Some believe and I will not discount it, that HIV was a man made creation that got out of control and has no cure.

That requires fluid transfer. What if man creates an airborne type of HIV. We'd all be dead right now if it was airborne!

What happens if Science creates a "man" and that "man" begins to question and hold themselves to know better and be superior and goes to war with man. What do we do. Genocide! Do we FLOOD THE EARTH to get rid of the infestation!

Science WANTS to do this and science WILL do this.

I'm all for it, but I want them to do it on the Moon, not on Earth.

Let's put a lab on the Moon and they can do whatever they want and we'll keep them in isolation for a year before we let them back on Earth, just to be safe.

DO YOU honestly want the building two blocks down from your home to be the LAB where SCIENCE starts TINKERING with GENETICS and if they're a LAB accident it might leak into YOUR HOME.

If, so, voulenteer.

I don't.

Keep it far away from me until you PROVE it's totally safe.

Seeing as how HIV spread from Africa to the US in less than a year, I see NO place on EARTH as being a safe place to let Science randomly tinker with the building blocks of life.

To the Moon with them. To Mars with them!

Once there, they are free to tinker all they want!

Answer 6

Not necessarily, you have confused the criminal! It is those who are challenged in their beliefs by truth. Anyone who speaks out against the ignorance of his day was put to death, since they went against the powers that held things in subjugation for their agenda. Who many philosophers and mystics have died? I think of Socrates and Yeshua/Jesus to name a couple! The problem is knowledge is what people are killed for, because there is nothing stronger than it. Which is why knowledge has been abused, kept withheld, and destroyed when it was recorded.

It's really crimes against the progress of becoming free and rise above the gravity of mind. Religion has did their worst, especially in the middle ages, but it is not exclusive to just religion. The truth is people don’t want truth, they want confirmation of what they think they know and their insecurities of being empty and deprived or even exposed will drive them to express their baser primitive nature. It’s not just simply a religion thing; it is an ignorance thing which does not pick favorites. It's in mans nature to do this when he is more animal then man.

Answer 7

It has mostly helped. But it has been a mixed bag and a source of many fights. But the church has always pushed society to be organized and that was a good thing in the middle ages.

But the more technically advanced we get the more it does hold things back. Religion is always going to have issues with science finding things in their texts that aren't true, so they try to stop science.

Answer 8

Many of the world's greatest scientists were Catholic.

I've noticed that the Galileo situation has been grossly misunderstood, so I've added a second link to a site I hope will help.

Answer 9

the church made few strides interior the progression of something except slavery and in dumbing-down the human race. Any improvements made were unintentional and that became at the same time as the church seized a persons artwork and gave credit for it to the church. that's the basically way medical analyze went everywhere. The era of historic past at the same time as the church ruled the international wasn't referred to as the darkish a at the same time as for not something.

Answer 10

Of course. Not only has religion opposed the discoveries of many scientists, it also discourages people from becoming scientists by offering 'god' as the answer to all life's questions.