What impact did the Catholic church have on today's society?

Answer 1

During the middle ages, the Catholic Church did not impact science much. This was largely because the science of the middle ages was not the sort of thing the church was interested in. For example, there was the development of the clock, which was important, and the church was interested in time, but the actual science of the clock was not interesting to the Church because there was no moral implication. The development of gunpowder and cannons in Europe was of interest to the Church just as any war might be, but the science of gunpowder and the cannon was not nearly as great a concern.

The development of the printing press, which effectively ended the middle ages, made it possible of scientific idea to be promulgated in a way that the Church felt it could not ignore. This was, I believe, not so much because of the science itself, but because of the religious lessons the Church expected to be derived from the science, ideas that could be spread among the people in a way that had never happened before.

So the fact of whether the planet Jupiter had moons was not of so much interest as the fact that people would derive from this the idea that there was more to the sky than had been imagined, which might imply that God was not in that heaven, or that it did not center on God, or some such heretical notion. Having Galileo recant in private was of no consequence, but having him recant to the public, to undo the damage he had done, was important. And in another age, the Church might have reacted differently, but the age of Galileo was also the age of Calvin and Luther, so the Church was in a mood to react rather then reflect.

Answer 2

Rationalism during Enlightenment was adopted by leading

rulers and politicians, and thus weakened the authority of the catholic guru 'Pope'.

In this way it broke down the defenses of Catholicism.

Especially those who frequented the universities were affected by the

victory of rationality in Enlightenment. Everywhere throughout Europe, 'rationalism' conquered the centres of education.

Answer 3

Theologists cannot explain why evolution doesn't fit into The Bible. Evolution has tangible evidence, where as the events in the Bible have limited evidence. Science and Evolution has up to some point, literally proved the catholic church wrong.

The Catholic Church's grip on the world may have started to loosen back in the 1600's when gallaeo first invented the telescope and discovered other planets.

However since major advances in science, mainly the evolution theory and the invention of the telescope, there has been other groups formed in the catholic church to assist faith and science to coexist, mainly the the Church of Christ scientist, which practices christian science.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Christ,_Scientist

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Science

Good argument here against the church

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126947.200-why-the-catholic-church-cant-ignore-science.html

Answer 4

The impact in modern society by the Roman Catholic Church which is what I think you are referring to has been huge. Since the Inquisition to present day it has been a force of retrocession for human society.

----

The Catholic church has had a major impact. For most of the past 2000 years it was easily the largest provider of food, shelter, education, and medical treatment in the world, and continues to deliver those services to Catholics and non-Catholics. The first universities were established by the church, which was also the major source of financial support for science for centuries.

It's also been a cohesive social influence, and while it's been quite rightly criticized for supporting authoritarian regimes in some countries, church leaders have often led opposition to repressive regimes: Karol Wojtyla in Poland, Archbishop Oscar Romero in El Salvador, Archbishop Pius Ncube in Mugabe's Zimbabwe, and Cardinal Jozsef Mindszenty in Hungary, to name four.

Answer 5

The Catholic Church is and has never been afraid of the "scientific revolution." Science and Faith are not enemies - in fact the Church developed the method proclaimed as "scientific research" early on in its existence. Just think of Gregory Mendel and his genetic experiments with peas and mice. So you should say that the Catholic Church effected the scientific revolution, not that it was affected by it.

Answer 6

You have it backward, the scientific revolution did not impact the Church so much as it was a result of the Catholic Church. It was Catholics who began the revolution in astronomy with Copernicus and Galileo, and it was the Jesuits who devised the modern Gregorian calendar that we still use. Fr. Gregor J. Mendel , an Augustinian Friar, was the founder of modern genetics. The Vatican has always encouraged the development of science from way back in the Middle Ages when the monks were developing new ways of doing things. "Since earliest times, the Catholic tradition had insisted that faith and reason must ultimately harmonize, (from James Hitchcock's History of the Catholic Church) that particular quote continues, with regard to the Galileo controversy: "so that in principle the Galileo dispute was not over whether science or religious authority was supreme but over facts - whether Copernicanism was true." That being said, many in the Church had a rough time accepting some of the new discoveries, the great Cardinal Bellarmine objected "that the heliocentric picture of the universe contradicted certain passages of Scripture where the sun was said to move." and of course Aristotle's claim that the heaviest matter - which was assumed to be the earth - was the center of the universe.

.

As the scientific revolution continued to "dazzle" people with its new found knowledge, many people came to see science as the ultimate "science" and theology and philosophy -previously at the head of the sciences - as not worthy of the same consideration. Rationalism had replaced Realism and the stage for Protestantism and the increased secularization of the society and consequent loss of faith came about.

Answer 7

Roman Catholic AnswerIf you are referring to the beliefs of the Catholic Faith, they are revealed by God, and science has had absolutely no impact, whatsoever, on the Catholic Church. The Church, on the other hand, has had an enormous impact on science. Any brief sketch of history of science would include remarkable achievements by individual Catholics, priests, and institutions in the Church towards the advancement of science.