Is religion counterproductive to the advancement of science and technology?

Question

I am not religious and I think religion in some cases is counterproductive to advancement of science and technology. Change my mind.

Shizunk · Accepted Answer

A religious and secular society is going to be able to advance science. A fundamentalist society will not. So for example islam had its golden period where rulers would loot libraries across the world and invite thinkers from everywhere to join them in big islamic cities. Then came a dark period where prominent movements branded math as the works of devil. Islamic societies in general never fully recovered since. This results in lack of progress and almost no scientific achievement coming from such societies today. But I would argue it is not the religion itself that does it. It is the degree to which religious doctrine is allowed free reign over a society.
Once a religion is submitted or generally accepts a position where science is not seen as a challenge to the authority of god or religious organizations, it can be fairly neutral when it comes to science.
If instead a religion is allowed to uphold a stable social structure and oppose nihilism, but is pushed back whenever it tries to penetrate any other part of life, it can sometimes be a force for the good. Rational arguments don't always lead to correct conclusions and sometimes irrational archetypes and ancient fiction can help us connect with ideas we intuitively understand but can't fully articulate. I would prefer a world without religion and superstition, but the situation is much less black and white than your question seems to imply.

whosnumber1 · Accepted Answer

oooo boy your gonna stir up a hornets nest! lol

doopayo · Accepted Answer

Yes and no, it all depends.

Religious people that are anti vax, anti technology, etc. for example; religious Amish that cut themselves off from society and partake in inbreeding.

There’s actually a good video up on yt by Anthony padellia where he interviewed people who grew up Amish.

kyleelyn199723 · Accepted Answer

@yoman1 may I ask you why you think this way?

LaikaFreefall · Answer

Science? Unquestioningly. Technology? probably. But it's less obvious, i think. One good example of it however would be the religious fervor against the research and development of often life-saving stem cell technology. (Research, I might add, that does not technically require abortions to proceed.)

Recurrence · Answer

I think people are just not developed for technology. Like think about how radically different we live today vs 100000 years ago, like evolutionary we haven’t even had enough time for our backs to be formed correctly, let alone our brains adapting to our modern lives

Stoner710 · Answer

No people like Thomas Aquinas was a great scientist and philosopher. A lot of the great astronomers were some form of Christian like Galileo believed in God Isaac newton what is an Unorthodox Catholic Johannesburg Kepler was a proud Christian Leonardo da Vinci was Catholic Edmond Halley was liberal in his religious beliefs. Ben Franklin was deist Nikola Tesla was a Serbian orthodox. Thomas Edison never declared himself a part of any religious sect but he did take religion seriously under the guise of Thomas Paine from his age of reason and was a deist. So there been many great scientists who was been religious and allowed our knowledge and western civilization to grow and thrive. The United state and the west very existence comes from Greek reasoning and jewish ethics.

jshm2 · Answer

You need to have a mind to change first, you dimwit.

Religion doesn't make or break technology, it's not it's purview. A priest can be as good a car mechanic, as he can a scientist. His religion plays no role in his skills in either.

Science makes guns, religion makes laws around their legal use. They work together, not separate.

Oigit · Answer

A religion at it's core is a book and belief. A book and belief only have as much power over someone as they choose to give. So it's less about religion being counterproductive, it's peoples beliefs being counterproductive due to how much power they have to their chosen book and belief. Though thinking like that can open a Pandora's box of its own.

BCRanger10 · Answer

I'm not sure how that's possible.

The main reason for this is that science and religion are concerned with two different things. Religion, generally speaking, is concerned with the supernatural and man's relation to and hope to attain the supernatural. Science, depending on which field you're talking about, is focused on the physical world and the things therein. For either one to attempt to make an authoritative claim on the other would be for them to bite off more than they can chew.

IronLady6354 · Answer

No. There are lots of religious people who are very good at advancing science and technology. Here's a list of examples who were committed Christians.

slatyb · Answer

Some religious leaders have been telling their followers not to be vaccinated against Covid-19 and many have become infected and died. But in the developed nations religious leaders have no power to block the advancement of science or technology.

Anonymous · Answer

Yes and no. No, in the sense that there's nothing inherent in religion which is counter to science and technology. But yes in the sense that in America, religion is not content to sit in its corner and guide the morals of people. They insert themselves into politics. They insert themselves into scientific debate, and science classes, to keep their myths unchallenged by the educated mind.

crazy8000 · Answer

Have been in the past.

It still influence some scientists work in a negative way when it comes to accuracy. but science community in itself have some major ideology issue in itself that put brakes on how fast it can go. even human factor with like ego interfere.

OlderAndWiser · Answer

People's opinions on this subject tend to be based on emotional factors, rather than logical factors, and I almost never respond to a challenge to "change as mind," as it is always an invitation to waste time.

MrCommodore · Answer

I generally don't think so, not unless the religion is promoting an oppressive anti-scientific agenda, and disuading good scientists and engineers from their work..

Alexandrubaschet08 · Answer

No, not at all, at las Christianity, this even suport the science to search for answers and show how God create evrething.

genericname85 · Answer

absolutely

ChefPapiChulo · Answer

Depends what religion it is or what technology you’re talking about. But the two aren’t opposites. They’re different fields.

Fromdusktilldawn · Answer

Religion is superstition. It was made up to explain things we couldn't understand back then and to keep citizens under control

Anonymous · Answer

Yep. 9/11. "Honor" killing. Wasting time praying and being at church instead of being in the laboratory. Won't save you from poverty and living with cockroaches.

BillyBalls · Answer

Nope. Some of the best universities were established by religious orders. Think Georgetown and Notre Dame.

okeydoke · Answer

I think organized religion as an institution is severely holding human thought and potential back.

Anonymous · Answer

Albert Einstein regularly professed his belief in god. Your move satan

Subarugirl · Answer

Absolutely! Just look at the history of science.

Julious0202 · Answer

it was religion that created the scientific method

Is religion counterproductive to the advancement of science and technology?

Most Helpful Opinions

Most Helpful Opinions

What Girls & Guys Said

Can you bring religion and science side by side?

Is religion counterproductive to the advancement of science and technology?

Most Helpful Opinions

Most Helpful Opinions

What Girls & Guys Said

Can you bring religion and science side by side?

We're glad to see you liked this post.