The conflict often goes through 8 stages:
In the 6th Century, Hebrews 9 and other passages were interpreted as describing the earth as a great flat parallelogram, surrounded by four seas and walls which supported the heavens. This theory held for some 600 years until two men (Peter of Abano and Cecco d'Ascoli) revived earlier theories of a round earth. Peter escaped punishment by quickly dying a natural death; Cecco was burned at the stake for his beliefs.
Magellan's voyage around the world in 1519 provided firm evidence for a round world, but religious leaders did not fully accept it for two more centuries.
Copernicus sounded the death knell of this principle in his greatest book Revolution of the Heavenly Bodies which described a crude model of a sun-centred solar system. In order to escape imprisonment, the book was presented as a hypothesis - a work of imagination. Copernicus was in many ways lucky. He died on the day that the first editions of his book were distributed, before he could be arrested.
To defend the status-quo, Protestant and Catholic churches quoted a passage in Psalms in which the sun "cometh forth as a bridegroom out of his chamber". From Ecclesiastes they quoted: "The earth standeth fast forever". Martin Luther mentioned Joshua's command that the sun stand still.
Giordano Bruno was the first supporter of Copernicus' theory; he was imprisoned and then burned alive. Early in the 17th century, Galileo's telescope revolutionized astronomy. He observed that the planet Venus went through phases, that there were spots on the sun and that Jupiter had moons. The church arrested Galileo twice; the Inquisition showed him the instruments of torture that would be used to force his recantation. He abandoned his teachings under pressure and retired. It was not until the year 1835 that the teachings of Copernicus and Galileo were finally accepted by his Church.
There were a number of minor skirmishes between religion and science that were "hot" for a while, and later faded from view:
Fortunately, Calvin argued that usury really meant oppressivly high interest rates. The Roman Catholic church reluctantly followed the Protestant lead. By the 19th century, interest had become a non-issue.
Lightning rods were a logical development; they protected buildings wherever they were installed. Unfortunately, to install a "heretical rod" was to admit that centuries of theological teachings were false. Churches were reluctant to use them. Seventeen years after Franklin's experiment, lightning struck the unprotected Church of San Nazaro, near Venice. This ignited 200,000 pounds of powder which had been stored there for safe keeping. The explosion wiped out one sixth of the city of Brescia and killed 3000 people. Lightning rods soon appeared on spires across Italy.
Jenner's development of vaccination was similarly opposed on religious grounds. By preventing the spread of disease, they were "bidding defiance to Heaven itself - even to the will of God." In 1885, a serious epidemic of smallpox broke out in Montreal Canada. Few Protestants died because they had been mostly vaccinated. However the Roman Catholic clergy were generally opposed to the practice; their parishioners died needlessly, in great numbers.
Judah (circa 1730 BCE) had three sons, Er, Onan and Shelah. The eldest son, Er, was "wicked in the sight of the Lord", and so God killed him. This placed the responsibility on the next eldest son to marry Er's widow, Tamar and to have a male child. The child would then be considered the son of Er.
Onan married the widow, but was unwilling to conceive a child which would not be considered his own. He practiced an elementary form of birth control (coitus interruptus). God did not approve of this, and so He killed Onan as well. It is not clear whether God disapproved of Onan's refusal to follow Jewish custom and provide an heir for his brother, or of his use of birth control. Most modern commentators believe the former; many ancient Christian leaders selected the latter.
St. Augustine (354-430 CE) commented on this biblical passage. He wrote that "where the conception of the offspring is prevented", sexual intercourse is "unlawful and wicked". St. Augustine did not differentiate between coitus interruptus and the rhythm method. This established Church policy for centuries. Interestingly enough, later clerics totally misinterpreted this same chapter; they said that Onan's crime was masturbation, not coitus interruptus. It was believed that God killed him for what became known as "self abuse"; Onanaism became a synonym for masturbation.
The Christian Church's stand on artificial birth control was adopted by the Protestant sects after the Reformation. All churches remained totally opposed to contraception until the courageous stand by Church of England in 1930. Other Protestant churches quickly followed their lead. Pius XI issued an encyclical in 1930 which reiterated the traditional view of the Roman Catholic Church.
In 1951, Pius XII made the first break with tradition. He said that the so-called "safe period" or rhythm method was lawful under certain circumstances. Pope John later set up advisory committee of specialists to study the legality of "the pill". In 1968, Pope Paul ignored the majority recommendation of the panel and ruled against "artificial" methods of birth control in his encyclical Humanae Vitae.
Pope Paul's decision was met with widespread criticism from many within and without the Church. The laity in North America has generally ignored the encyclical and is now widely practicing birth control. It is difficult for the Church to maintain control over its flock in a multi-faith culture. The family size of Protestants now differs very little from that of Roman Catholics.
This conflict is different from those described previously, because it is still an active concern within the Roman Catholic Church - at least among the leadership.
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