Backwards nation

[downbeatplumb]

How big a factor do you think the continuing Christian backwardness is on the pace at which America is losing the scientific edge as it goes into relative economic/power decline?

I'd be much more worried about political influences corrupting science, than I would religion as a whole. It's the nations which have a Christian heritage which have traditionally contributed the most in science in our age. What has China, or North Korea contributed, for instance? Australia has a comparable population to North Korea, and we have a Christian heritage. North Korea is the most Atheist place in the world. Which of us has contributed more to science? Duh.

Scientific advances come despite religion not because of it.

Religion has a looonnnng history of trying to retard scientific advances.

Copernicus- replaced the earth centered view of the universe and was persecuted.
Galileo Galilei- Expanded on Copernicus and was persecuted and his books banned.
Conrad Gessner- whose work is now seen as the fore runner of modern zoology was banned.
Charles Darwin-nuff said.
The Catholic church tried to suppress the meaning of hieroglyphs because they contradicted accepted biblical dates.
One Catholic priest destroyed almost all the writings of the Maya.
The catholic church systematically rounded up and destroyed all other versions of christianity with brutal suppression and book burning.
More recently you have "intelligent design" trying to be smuggled into schools in the guise of science.
You have the restrictions on stem cell research.
You have the constant annoying mantra of "well what if" the insert some way out shit that you have to refute Waldorf and Statler stylee (the older members will know what I mean).

The whole religion thing gives an anti-science vibe, by purporting to be the ultimate answer.
If the answer is always Goddidit why look for deeper answers.