Crediting Where Crediting Is Due

I've been noticing a recent trend in Christian blogs and online commentaries when discussing science and religion to give ourselves some back pats over how Christianity 'invented' modern science and how it is only down to the darn fine Biblical view of Creation that science was able to emerge and flourish.

How wonderful for us... but also how narrow minded and selfish.

Firstly we are not the only religion to share that view of Creation. Jews and Muslims and myriad other religions derived from the three great Abrahamic faiths share it as well. Secondly it is quite clearly not the case that high science and technology needs Christianity to develop given that the Chinese and Muslims were at it long before Christianity got seriously engaged with the subject.

It is however true that Christianity, embedded within Western Europe 400 years ago did create a mindset coupled with the resources and opportunities to encourage the development of science. Even then though it was not still inevitable. We should be humble enough to take note that although many clergy were amongst the first scientists and their supporters it was all too often Church derived authorities who at times took action against developments in science that they felt threatened Scripture (or rather their interpretations of it).

The culture of the time was changing and European countries were on the rise to be the next generation of global superpowers in terms of both military and economic capacity. These provided as much of a push (if not more) to develop technology and science than simply a Christian view of Creation by itself.

After all such a view had been in existence for well over a thousand years beforehand but hadn't gone anywhere with it until that point. It was the convergence of Christianity (and even to some extent dissatisfaction with the society it had wrought) that along with the desire for cultural change and expansion and having the resources to do it birthed our current technological civilisation.

We should be very satisfied with the historic fit of scientific motivation and Christian principles as they are complementary, but we should be very careful before given undue credit to a historic outcome that is not a Christian inevitability. To do so also diminishes the incredible achievements of the many individuals down through the centuries who came from diverse backgrounds and religions and who all contributed to the development of science - something that is truly a universal human achievement and unites people together, exactly as the Creator intended.