Resolved; Christianity was a positive influence in the development of modern science

I also accept his terms and definitions. So without further ado lets begin. For the sake of simplicity I will put my argument into 2 parts; first I'll dispose of some historical examples many skeptics use to show a conflict between Christianity and science, and then I'll proceed to show some historical evidence which supports the view that Christianity actually aided in the development of science. Getting rid of the misconceptions; Did Christianity cause the dark ages? No, although the rise of Christianity could have played a role in destabilizing Rome, there is no evidence that Christians actively sought Rome's demise. The fall of Rome was of course more to do with economic collapse and invasion from the Goths and the Huns. The Goths, although many were Christian did not attack Rome in some crusade against pagan technology. The Visigoths did so because of a famine which broke out in Rome and elsewhere, causing a shortage of food, and so the Visigoths revolted. [1] The Ostrogoths were attacked by the Eastern Empire in 535 a. d [2]. Before these points the Goths were largely non-christian and attacked Rome in hopes of wealth and because of pressure from the Huns. What about Alexandria? Did not Christians burn the library of Alexandria to the ground because of the heresy of their pagan ways? There are actually three accused culprits of this disaster; Julias Ceaser, Patriarch Theophilis, and Caliph Omar of Damascus. It is unclear who is responsible for the libraries destruction, but there is reason to doubt the Christian Theophilis was responsible. There are numerous accounts of the library no longer existing by the time Theophilis would have held his position[3]. He couldn't have destroyed something which wasn't there to begin with. Did the church persecute Galileo for his scientific findings? Well the church did persecute Galileo, but not because of his discoveries. Rather it was because of a book he published wherein, the Pope felt as if Galileo was mocking him, and so he had him arrested [4]. It was an embarrassing act on the Pope's part no doubt, but it wasn't a clash of science vs. Christianity. A positive case for a positive relationship; Many major scientific discoveries were made by Christians; Isaac Newton; developed theories of light and gravitation, and invented calculus. He wrote more on theology than he did on science. Blaise Pascal; Invented the mechanical calculator, made numerous contributions to the fields of mathematics and chemistry. Helped develop modern probability theory used in social sciences. He is well known for his passionate Christian beliefs. Galileo; The first to use a telescope to view the stars, proved that planets orbited the sun. Was also known to be a pious Roman Catholic. Micheal Faraday; Discovered electric fields, did work in magnetism and electricity. He did science because he thought God had created everything with order and structure. Robert Boyle; Called the father of modern chemistry, was well known for his piety and his commitment to his faith. Lord Kelvin; developed the first 2 laws of thermodynamics. His views of God inspired his discoveries. Francis Collins; head of the human genome project. Devout Christian and author of "The Language of God". [5] There are many more examples of scientists who were passionate Christians but this is a good start. Note that these examples were most definitely not closet atheists or agnostics, they were deeply involved in their religious beliefs. For a more extensive list see; . http://www.tektonics.org... Traditionally held Christian beliefs fostered science; Christians throughout history have held firmly to the belief that God is rational, and that in being rational He created a rational universe. Thus they expected that nature was rationally intelligible. Christians have also traditionally held that humans are created in the image of this rational God. An implication of this is that we as humans must be rational, and we are rational we should be able to discover things about the rationally intelligible universe. Eastern philosophies throughout history have held to cyclic views of the universe, meaning that nothing is truly progressing, but rather everything is repeating itself over and over again. An implication of this is that progression in understanding of nature is impossible. In contrast to this view, Christianity teaches that humanity can improve, and that there is a progression to an inevitable end. these doctrines among many others support the thesis that Christianity nurtured science more than it hindered it. [6] Supporting Quotes; "Although popular images of controversy continue to exemplify the supposed hostility of Christianity to new scientific theories, studies have shown that Christianity has often nurtured and encouraged scientific endeavour, while at other times the two have co-existed without either tension or attempts at harmonization. If Galileo and the Scopes trial come to mind as examples of conflict, they were the exceptions rather than the rule. " -Gary Ferngren; historian of science at Oregon University "hitherto we have explained the phenomena of the heavens and the cause of this power. . . . To us it is enough that gravity does really exist, and act according to the laws which we have explained, and abundantly serves to account for all the motions of the celestial bodies. " -Isaac Newton "it is a matter of record that science never developed anywhere except where there was Christian influence. " -David Siemens, P. H. D. in philosophy from Claremont Graduate school 1. . http://en.wikipedia.org... 2. . http://en.wikipedia.org... 3. . http://www.bede.org.uk... 4. . http://www.bede.org.uk... 5. . http://www.harding.edu... 6. . http://www.ldolphin.org...