Christianity has been more beneficial than detrimental to mankind.

1. Copernicus would actually agree with me. There is a common misconception that the Church saw Copernicus's theory of heliocentricity as a threat when it came out. This is, however, false. They saw it as helpful, in fact. Pope Gregory XIII used it to make the calendar. Copernicus himself was a member of the clergy! The Church saw no danger in it. Copernicus's book espousing his theory was not banned when it was published and they did not put it on their list of prohibited books when he wrote it. They did not have a problem with Copernicus's theory at all. Williams, Patricia. "Science and the Bible in Dialogue: In the Beginning" The Fourth R: July-August 2008. Howell, Kenneth. "God's Two Books: Copernican Cosmology and Biblical Interpretation in Early Modern Science" Notre Dame, 2002. The myth of conflict between science and Christianity is a strong one, but scholarly research has lead to more correct interpretations. Greek thought would not have been preserved without Christianity. Through the Dark Ages, Christian scholars and monks, wanting to keep their writings intact, kept a multitude of Greek literature and writings alive. In effect, Christianity did help spark the Renaissance by keeping Greek thought alive. Yes, reason was indeed helpful, but Greeks thought that the world could be figured out by reason alone. They looked down on experimentation, which Christianity valued. So, the combination of Greek reason (which was preserved by Christianity) and a mechanistic cosmology and value for labor led to the scientific revolution. Christianity played a huge part. My citations are the same as in Round 1 for Point 1 for these arguments. As for Bruno, I am aware of his unseemly fate. However, he too was a monk and a Christian. He, as well as most other scientists during his time and for centuries afterwards, was convinced that his exploration and discovery were a way to better understand God. This was a common theme for scientists even up to the days of Gregor Mendel (in the field of genetics) who also was a monk who believed that scientific inquiry was a way to better understand God. It is the theory of God's Two Books. His one book is the Bible. The other book is the world around us, and as you must study the Bible to know God, so must you study the natural world and figure out how it works. This was possibly the largest contributor to the scientific revolution. 2. Could you please cite sources for your knowledge? Thank you. If you cite your statements then I will indeed consider it to be a wash. 3. Yes, it was Davis' surrender that actually ended slavery. Perhaps I phrased it poorly, but Christian abolition movements tipped the scales in favor of attitudes about getting rid of slavery. Obviously, this was not the major point of the Civil War, but it is a benefit to mankind nonetheless. Also, abolitionist movements were heavily Christian in England when the fights over slavery were going on there. Would you do me the favor of naming some of those not so nice people? I've got Gandhi and MLK as two examples of Christianity benefiting mankind greatly, so I would appreciate it if you would name those unsavory characters. Thank you again. 4. "And in the 13th-century, Franciscan nominalists were the first to elaborate legal theories of God-given rights, as individual rights derived from a natural order sustained by God's immutable laws of "right reason". For these medieval thinkers, not even the king himself could violate certain rights of the subject, because the idea of law was attached to the Bible-based conception of Christian justice." These God-given rights heavily influenced the later thinkers who espoused personal liberty and individual rights. People such as Locke and Jefferson were influenced by these earlier Christian thoughts. (http://www.newsweekly.com.au...) "In declaring the equality of all human souls in the sight of God, Christianity compelled the kings of England to recognise the supremacy of the divine law over their arbitrary will. 'The absolutist monarch inherited from Roman law was thereby counteracted and transformed into a monarch explicitly under law'." Roman times had absolutely no conception of individual rights. Everything was done for Rome, or for the patriarchal unit. Christianity sparked the idea of equality under God's law and individual rights did indeed stem from Christianity, and subsequently, were used in 17th and 18th century political philosophies that we know so well today. 5. Ah, I meant majority in terms of religion. Christianity holds the majority population in terms of religions. 1/3 of the world identifies as Christian. Second is Islam with 21%, so on and so forth. This is what I meant by majority population. Poor phrasing on my part. What I should have said is that it is the dominant religion of the world. (http://www.adherents.com...) I will tailor this argument towards Jesus, more so. Jesus is a figure that most people would say is quite admirable, whether you are Christian or not. The figure of Jesus is someone that Christians want to emulate. Being Christ-like is an important part of Christianity, and the morals that Jesus espoused (alms to the poor, loving thy enemy, etc.) are ones that are beneficial to mankind. Christians attempt ( I do say 'attempt') to follow these rules in order to better the world and also to make sure they are being like their God. There are also numerous reform movements such as the temperance, educational reform, child labor illegalization, etc. that have been led by Christian organizations. Also, the earliest universities in the West were developed by the Church. Christianity, though not the only influence for the beginning of universities, did indeed set up the first ones in Western Europe. This is another benefit to mankind. All of the aforementioned effects of Christianity are beneficial.