The above image was left by a commenter on my blog. It reflects a common trope about the “dark ages” which reflects not actual darkness, but modern lack of awareness about developments in science, philosophy, and universities in this period, often under the auspices of and with support from the Church. (Although I doubt it deserves the label one person has given it: “The most wrong thing on the internet ever.”) And even if it were correct about Christian dark ages in Europe, it would still be ignoring the amazing things happening in the Islamic world in that period, which in turn sparked the Renaissance, which the maker of the graph seems to think was a positive thing.

It always strikes be as ironic when people complain about the alleged negative impact of religion on scientific advancement and critical thinking, and in the process show themselves to be the ones who accept things they’ve heard uncritically.

Of related interest, there is a post By Derrick Peterson about this on the blog A Greater Courage which is in turn part of an excellent series about the modern myth of the conflict model of the history of the relationship between science and religion. Rhoda Hawkins talks about being a Christian as well as a scientist. And Dale McGowan shared thoughts on how to (and how not to) reconcile God and evolution.