In the media and textbooks, we will see the depiction that Christianity has had a major role in suppressing and holding back science. You may be able to think of a couple examples off the top of your head. Christians are often portrayed to behave and think in ways that are unrealistic of our brothers and sisters now and in the past. Christianity and religion in general, have long been major advancers of human knowledge. Specifically, we are going to look at how our textbooks hide this fact and claim the opposite notion, that Christianity has held back science and reason. Most textbooks will have quotes like the following:

“People believed the direct actions of a Creator (many people still believe this). Species were thought to have been specially created and to be unchangeable over the course of time.” Biology, 9th Raven

“Darwin's theory of evolution is almost universally accepted by biologists. Many criticisms have been made, but most stem from a lack of understanding.” Biology for a Changing World

"The theory of evolution was controversial when it was first proposed in 1859, yet within 20 years virtually every working biologist had accepted evolution as the explanation for the diversity of life. It was the arguments of the biologists that were resolved after a short time, while the arguments of religious leaders have persisted to this day. Its continued rejection by some religious leaders results from its replacement of special creation, a tenet of their religious belief.” Concepts of Biology

“Several other ideas were also considered science well into the 1800s. Among them was the concept of a “special creation,” the sudden appearance of organisms on Earth. People believed that this creative event was planned on Earth. People believed that this creative event was planned and purposeful, that species were fixed and unchangeable, and that Earth was relatively young. The idea of a special creation also implied that there could be no extinction.” Biology for a Changing World

Earlier in the chapter we saw textbooks flatout telling students a literal reading of the Bible is wrong and that they do not need a creator. The representation of Christians and Christianity in media and public education are radically false and very demeaning. Yes, Christians believe in a special creation, but not under the terms they claim we do. We believe both in change and the possibility of extinction. The only faults textbooks can find with Christ, are the ones that they make up. If our textbook authors had read a few pages into the same book that contained the creation account, they would have read about a worldwide flood giving way to our current fossil record, and yes, mass extinction. As Christians, we see a fallen broken world of death. We fully believe and accept the idea of extinction. We also, as already discussed, believe that species can and do change. Just ask any Christian farmer and he will tell you that. We simply see a limitation on these changes. Textbooks will demean and ridicule our beliefs with prejudice, while lying about the supposed facts of their own beliefs. Science is a process, a process based on repeatable and observable events. Macroevolution is neither repeatable nor observable. It is indoctrination when textbooks tell students that evolutionary religious views are true while teaching that the Christian belief of parents is false. This is a hypocrisy that I hope parents and students are upset over. Textbooks will even differentiate between “scientists” and “religious leaders.” This is a differentiation that history does not make. It was out of the church that science has progressed as the created seeked to better know the Creator. Textbooks try to make it seem that the religious and scientific have never been synonymous or allied. Fictitious evolution does not like to share its hold on the scientific community. Instead textbooks will claim strawmen as we see in the quote below acting like evolution is undeniable and leave “religious leaders” looking ignorant. The text belows says “religious leaders” to be politically correct, but they mean Christians. They are speaking of you and me.

“A common argument from some religious leaders is that alternative theories to evolution should be taught in public schools. Critics of evolution use this strategy to create uncertainty about the validity of the theory without offering actual evidence. In fact, there are no viable alternative scientific theories to evolution.” Concepts of Biology

As we will later see, many and probably most major advancements in science have been by scientists who were religious and believed in a creator. For some reason, textbooks find it important to claim Christianity held science back, but find the faith of many of the scientists to be irrelevant to mention. Leonard Euler is known as the mathematician who published on math more than any other mathematician in history, and he was also a preacher. Gregor Mendel contributed immensely to our understanding of genetics and is studied by many of us. He did his studies as a monk at a monastery. Likewise we also see names in our textbooks like Boyle, Newton, Pascal, Morse, and Dalton. These scientists were deeply religious. Richard Dawkins said, ““I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world.” Yet, we do not see religion or Christianity as limiting progress. People of faith have contributed vastly to science, but we see textbooks targeting us Christians specifically and claiming a different narrative than that of history. We see these great men of science as being moved to know their Creator’s creation. We do not see them holding back science as many claim. We, Christians, have progressed science, unlike atheistic evolutionists who push ideas that are not scientific or true. While the history of Christianity has been one of growing science, evolutionary believers seek to stifle scientific progress.

“I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.” ― Galileo Galilei