What is the single biggest mistake the Catholic Church has made as far as the history of science is concerned?

Question

I want to know your opinion on this so feel free to expound on the subject. Best and most interesting answer will get 10 brownie points. Thanks!

26 Dec 2006, 2:17pm, Philippines

Answer 1

The Catholic Church doesn't hold the prize for this. In fact they're not even in second place.

The very worst religious mistake ever made (in terms of harm to science) was done by two Anglicans, Dr. John Lightfoot, and Bishop James Ussher. They calculated from the Bible that the Earth was created 4004 BC.

Acceptance of this by people has led them to totally reject science, since there are multitudes of scientific evidence against this. And most all geology, astronomy, etc. totally rejects the idea.

Some results. Minds that could have made tremendous scientific advances don't work in science. We don't fund science enough. Really silly propaganda by the fossil fuel industry re global warming is accepted. Education is harmed because of controversy over teaching evolution. Etc.

Torturing Galileo and rejecting birth control don't bat in the same league for damage.

More at:

http://www.religioustolerance.org/ev_date.htm

or Google "new earth creationist"

Please note that nothing in science disproves the existence of a creator. "old earth creationists" don't harm science, and may actually promote it.

See

http://www.reasons.org for one example.

Also note that "new atheists" (Google) are doing equal damage by espousing the religious belief that there is no creator, and falsely asserting that this is proven by science. As far as the harm to science is concerned, they achieve exactly the same results as the new earth creationists.

Nothing the Catholic Church has ever done has caused even 1% of the harm to science caused by these two groups.

Answer 2

For the sake of discussion, I will pick a modern example. Against an overwhelming majority vote of its own review panel, Pope Paul VI decided (in 1968 ) that birth control was a bad thing & issued a statement to that effect. Not only was this blatant mideivel thinking in the modern world, but it caused many lifetime Roman Catholics to question their faith & their relationship with the church. Many priests could not convey this doctrine in good conscience & left the priesthood. It was a PR disaster that the Vatican has IMHPOV never recovered from. And it was all based on bad science. The earliest birth control pills were too strong & had many side effects. By 1968 they had been fine-tuned & did not stress the women's body so much, but it was too late. Once the Vatican had shown how disconnected it was from the people of modern times, an entire generation of young people said "that's it for me!" or some such thing and headed for the exits.

There are many Roman catholic people who still follow the Vatican's position, but in a world of shrinking resources and crowded countries it just doesn't make sense. Also, since condoms are included in the prohibition, it makes even less sense, given herpes and AIDS thrown into the pre-existing mix of STDs. More bad science. More problems from mideivel thought.

Peace,

;-)

Answer 3

During the medieval ages, the clergy translated all the teachings of Pan-Ionian Greeks like Aritstole, Ptolemy and other great thinkers into Latin. They wanted to make Theology rule over natural philosophy and used this translating to their advantage. So, many things were actually fabricated by the clergy for maintaining the world order. They followed the Aristolean teachings and adopted the Heliocentric Universe. People who though laterally and questioned this theory were branded heretics and sometimes made to die brutally. The church should have realised the importance of science and technology at time. They should not have killed all those thinkers.
However, the Catholic Church is very much different today. It is tolerant and supports the development of science. It also funds certain programmes which may benefit mankind.

Answer 4

Probably one of the Church's greatest errors in the field of science was its opposition to the theory of heliocentrism (sun at the centre of the solar system) as proposed by Galileo.

For more information on the subject, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei

Answer 5

Perhaps not taking into consideration all the scientific and medical advances made by the Greeks and Romans.