Post by pericles on Sept 5, 2004 13:59:08 GMT -5
okay, fair enough, but that could have been(and, IMO, probably was) more politically or financially, rather than spiritually, motivated, considering the hugely powerful and materialist Catholic Church.
In other words, this may not have been an expression of Christian values, but of greed or power (the other churches are strangely silent )
In other words, this may not have been an expression of Christian values, but of greed or power (the other churches are strangely silent )
Entirely possible. To be fair, there are clearly documented examples of the Church oppressing scientific ideas and silencing scientists. But what really annoys me are the bad historians who go overboard and act as if the Church has always hated science.
The other side of the coin is that various other groups, such as atheistic Communists, have oppressed scientific advances, but historians never act as if atheism is incompatible with science. The problem is that an oppressive, totalitarian group will try to suppress any advances or changes from the status quo. Thus, the Roman Catholic Church sometimes slowed science, as did Communists in the U.S.S.R. and Nazis in Germany. In my opinion, the phenomenon is more social and political than religious or philosophical.
