Originally Posted By: Wolfman
Ever since I was in Grade School, and I read about "The Dark Ages", it's bothered me how Religion has tried to stifle Science. Think of where we might be right now if we hadn't spent 500 to 800 years under the Iron Glove of "The Church" in Europe.

Yes, indeed, and let's consider the many Greek scientists and thinkers (or natural philosophers as they were called, even in Newton's day): Thales, Pythagoros, Democritus, Plato, Aristotle, Aristarchus, Eristothenes...and so many more. Why were there so many? Here's a suggestion:

"There seems to be no good reason why the Hellenes, clustered in isolated city-states in a relatively poor and backward land, should have struck out into intellectual regions that were only dimly perceived, if at all, by the splendid civilizations of the Yangtze, the Tigris and Euphrates, and the Nile valleys. There were many differences between ancient Greece and the other civilizations, but perhaps the most significant was religion. What is striking about Greek religion, in contrast to the religions of Mesopotamia and Egypt,is its puerility. Both of the great river civilizations evolved complex theologies that served to answer most, if not all, of the large questions about mankind's place and destiny. Greek religion did not."

- Encyclopaedia Britannica 2005

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