[Religion] does absolutely nothing to
further man's knowledge
On the contrary, religion has been the reason for many advances in knowledge. Much of architectural knowledge, for example, was discovered because man wanted to build edifices to the gods -- the arch, the minaret, Stonehenge, the pyramids, on and on. During the dark ages much of man's knowledge and wisdom was preserved in the monestaries, by copyists trained and supported by the church. Without the church, we would probably have little if anything left of Aristotle, for example. I was taught, though I don't know whether it's true, that astronomy was basically discovered by the Egyptians because they wanted to understand the movement of the divine stars. And on and on. The civil rights movement in the 60s would probably never have come into being if it hadn't been nurtured in the churches by religious leaders. Sure, religion is also responsible for great evils -- the crusades, the inquisition. But it has also been responsible for much wisdom, both the creation and the preservation thereof. |
