One of the most successful techniques used in brainwashing is repetition. Repeat a lie often enough and it soon gets embedded in the subconscious of the public and then becomes accepted as an undisputed and unassailable fact.
One such example that has had far-reaching negative consequences is the statement that the Church is anti-science.
Science and religion are different. Science examines the material universe to understand how it works. Religion examines our place in creation, why we are here, what our purpose is and what actions are consistent with that purpose.
Yet the negative portrayal of the Church has deep roots, and the very mention of the name of the scientist Galileo seems enough to silence any pronouncement on any scientific issue that does not suit the mood of the times.
The case of Galileo, which occurred about 400 years ago, is complex. Although proved right, his insistence in supporting the Copernican system could not be confirmed at the time. The Church’s insistence that Galileo should only regard his findings as a hypothesis, since conclusive proof was lacking, led to his censure.
This unfortunate clash between a brilliant scientist and the Church has played a part in establishing the myth that religion is hostile to science. Historical reality is quite the opposite. The Church has been instrumental in promoting scientific endeavour on all fronts.
After the collapse of the Roman Empire, the monastic system played a crucial role in salvaging the culture of learning and promoting education. It was Catholic civilisation that led to the development of the university system that we take so much for granted today.
One of the Church’s most outstanding contributions was in the study of light and the cosmos. Around the mid-13th century, in Oxford, the Franciscan friar Roger Bacon initiated the study of optics. The eventual development of lenses and mirrors led to the construction of telescopes and microscopes.
The Jesuit priests Riccioli and Grimaldi were instrumental in promoting astronomy in the mid-17th century. About 200 years later, another Jesuit, Fr Angelo Secchi, helped establish the science of astrophysics. Only recently, in 2008, the Polish theologian, cosmologist and philosopher Michael Heller won the prestigious Templeton Prize.
Genetics was another field where the Church has promoted discovery thanks to Augustinian monk Gregor Mendel, who played a great pioneering role in founding this discipline, which is so vital to advances in modern medicine and biology.
The relationship between faith and science throughout history was studied by the Hungarian Benedictine priest Fr Stanley Jaki, who was a philosopher, physicist and historian. He maintained that the culture of Christianity surpassed others in unleashing and stimulating scientific research and discovery.
Despite this undisputed reality, the world still brands the Church as anti-science. The astrophysicist and current head of the Vatican Observatory, Guy Consolmagno SJ, believes that it was the politics and anti-clericalism of the late 19th century, particularly due to the Church’s opposition to eugenics, that gave rise to this antagonism.
Eugenics is the social philosophy that aims at improving a population by controlled breeding to increase the occurrence of desirable heritable characteristics. It was very popular with the intelligentsia of the English-speaking world in the first three decades of the 20th century. It culminated in the extermination of ‘subhuman’ races in the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps.
Sadly, forced sterilisation of ‘undesirables’ was an accepted practice in various countries as diverse as Canada, Australia, India, China, Sweden and elsewhere, in some, even until recently.
Today, things are pretty much the same. Under the guise of promoting life and health, many countries treat embryos and foetal tissue as raw material for medical research, vaccines, cosmetics and food additives.
The Church is not and has never been against science per se. It is, however, very concerned about the abusive application of science. After all, it is a question of morality and of ethics, of distinguishing the difference between what can be done and what should be done.
Nowhere are these matters more pertinent than in the field of reproductive technology. In their arrogance to muzzle the voice of reason, the anti-Catholic bias tries to stifle those who oppose medical techniques that disregard the sacredness of life and human dignity.
It is long overdue that we expose the dishonest labelling of the Church as being hostile to science, and recognise its very well-founded concerns.
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