Ask a person on the street for an opinion about science and religion, and you are likely to hear something about a confrontation, or perhaps a reference to Galileo’s trial for heresy by the Roman inquisition in 1633. But the belief that science and religion have always been in conflict is a myth that has been thoroughly debunked by professional historians of science. Christians have often been at the forefront of scientific research, and the modern scientific method of rational empiricism is closely linked with Christian theology.
