Looking at history, at one point the church was one of the most into science. Backing other’s discoveries and a lot of monks and priests even being considered scientists. But then at one point science became heresy and some of the scientists we know of today ended up in arguments with the church and I’m honestly intrigued at how it all happened.
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The apparent separation has more to do with political forces and power plays than either science or religion. As you observed, monks and priests made notable contributions to science, such as Mendel (Genetics), Lemaître (Big Bang Theory), or notable scientists having strong devotion to their faith (Pasteur).
One of the narratives that gets brought up a lot is Galileo. The story is retold how Galileo was charged with heresy in a sham trial, and is shared this way to highlight a rift between science and religion. Facts that are often left out of the story is that Pope Urban VIII was a patron of Galileo, and Galileo had published things mocking the pope, and that Galileo was in fact incorrect (he argued that the sun was the center of the whole universe). However, given the strong personalities, political forces (including the Inquisition in Spain placing pressure on the pope), and in general political mess, the entire affair was unjustly conducted. Pope John Paul II, officially expressed regret on behalf of the Catholic Church over what transpired.
Today, you will find the science vs religion charge to be very political, fueled by fundamentalism (strict adherence to a chosen subset of a religious belief), inflexibility, ignorance, and a desire to have one’s own side “win.” But while that dominates news headlines and debate, it cannot be said that religion and science are separate. You will always find individuals that want to over simplify things to make their argument.
This response is very limited to Christian/Catholic perspective. I am aware there is even stronger narrative for the coexistence of Science and Religion in Islamic history, but I cannot speak to that well.
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