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Most of the pioneers of science and rational thinking were religious. One can believe in one thing based on logic and evidence and still have beliefs that aren't as well grounded. Newton was a genius and paved the way for so many things, yet dabbled in the mystics and alchemy. Doesn't downplay his science work.
Most of them were forced to be religious or they'd be burned alive as heretics.
How many were actually atheists? Id wager most
Also, for a long time one of the only ways a non-rich person could get an education was by joining the clergy
It turns out that taking 10% of an entire community's wages can fund so much more than extravagant buildings... like, an education!
Yep.
If you weren't doing science under the church, the church was rarely happy someone was doing science.
Everything had to be approved by the church at every step. Not just science, but often art as well.
I really wonder what scientific discoveries the Vatican has stored away in their vaults
Imagine the world we would live in if the dark ages never happened...
Probably something, but likely nothing more advanced than what we currently have.
Perpetual motion puppies.
Maybe deists, not necessarily convinced of the Christian god but thinking there could be something in control.
I bet some of the non devout were agnostic deists, believing in general "intelligent creation".
Some of these folks view the pursuit of knowledge on the universe as understanding God's designs.
Catholics don't have a problem with science in fact the belief is that it is a sin if you have a talent given by God and waste it.
The problem are the Christian sects that decided to interpret the Bible literally that led to these conclusions.
Especially once you get into genetics and evolution. A lot of those theories directly contradict creationist theories.
Most people in history were religious.
Yep, for most of history what we'd call "science-ing" was done by people called natural philosophers, people who blended early scientific thought with questions of theology (ex. "How can I understand what God built outside our planet?")