Christianity and Science

 

Some Christians like to try and claim exclusive credit for the development of science (but weirdly, some of them reject some of its fruits at the same time).

Now, I'm an atheist, and I have just as little time for the more backward aspects of Islam and Judaism as I do for backward versions of Christianity. But the Christian claim is excessively prideful, and it is wrong. 

The roots of science go back deep into pre-Christian history. We have found this from by the knowledge preserved and extended by the phenomenon known as the Golden Age of Islam. In contrast with common Christian practises, which were the obliteration of non-Christian cultural offerings, born from arrogance, ignorance and superstition, amounting to cultural genocide, Arabs and Muslim scholars collected, preserved and translated cultural fruits from Persia, India, China, Egypt and more, that could otherwise have been lost. This was known as the "Translation Movement".

Enlightened Christians travelled to Muslim centres of learning in mostly Moorish Southern Europe, such as Toledo, Cordoba, Granada, Seville and Palermo, all places I have visited, to translate ancient and then current Islamic knowledge from Arabic into Latin, The Lingua Franca of the European intelligentsia of the time. This lead to the Renaissance (the rebirth) of European culture, and allowed the founding of the first Northern European universities, releasing Christendom from the Dark Ages, and leading, ultimately, to what we call the Scientific Revolution.

Here is a wonderful documentary from the BBC, presented by Jameel Sadik "Jim" Al-Khalili CBE FRS FInstP. He is an "Iraqi-British theoretical physicist, author and broadcaster. He is professor of theoretical physics and chair in the public engagement in science at the University of Surrey. He is a regular broadcaster and presenter of science programmes on BBC radio and television, and a frequent commentator about science in other British media.

In 2014, Al-Khalili was named as a RISE (Recognising Inspirational Scientists and Engineers) leader by the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).[6][7] He was President of Humanists UK between January 2013 and January 2016" - Wikipedia

https://youtu.be/M9eLxDm7mrE