The Separation of Religion

from the Rest of Life

When the decline set in in the Muslims, the      modern research into these subjects started in Europe, these ‘Christian sciences’ were proved to be mistaken in their notions. There was indignation in religious circles in Europe when modern scholars made new discoveries in the fields of astronomy, geography, and physics. Firstly, these scholars were excommunicated. When this measure failed to hold them in check, Pope Innocent III (1160-1216) gave special orders for the establishment of courts of Inquisition in Spain and other Catholic countries. It is estimated that about three million people had to face these courts. Severe punishments were meted out to them. Approximately 30,000 people were burnt at the stake, even famous scientists as Galileo and Bruno had also to face the wrath of the Church.

This sparked off a conflict between the Church and Science, which eventually became a conflict between religion and science in general. Because of inordinate insistence on the sacrosanctity of certain hypothetical beliefs, people received the false impression that religion and science were opposed to each another, and that progress for one meant inevitable decline for the other. Knowledge, according to the Quran, should draw one closer to God (35:28), but as a result of Christian interpolations, knowledge came to make one, more distant from the Lord.

The conflict between Christianity and scientific knowledge continued for about two hundred years. Then, in 1859, Charles Darwin published his famous book The Origin of Species. The Church was bitterly opposed to this book, but by now the Church’s power had waned. Compromise was reached in the form of secularization. Religion and Science were separated from one another. Religion came to be considered as a private matter. In all other walks of life man’s right to freedom was accepted: that he should be allowed to do what he liked and carry out research into whatever he deemed fit.