Religion versus Science

As knowledge began to increase, the influence of the
Christian religion and the authority of the church were seen to
diminish; and as in the one case, ignorance kept pace with the
promulgated influence of this religion, so in the other, science has
kept pace, and extended itself in proportion to the destruction of
Christian influence and authority; and where at this period there is
the most science, there the least credence is given to revealed
religion; where the principles of physics, morality, and politics
have been most clearly understood, there the least respect is paid to
this system of fanaticism and superstition. In short, they are
incompatible with each other, and it may be confidently maintained
that the world must either retrograde to a state of darkness, or that
the belief of the Christian religion must become wholly extinct.

--Elihu Palmer (1764-1806), Principles of Nature; or, A Development of the Moral Causes of Happiness and Misery Among the Human Species 


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