Common misconceptions
A lot of people have some funny ideas about history - funny as in odd, not humorous. In the interest of trying to set the record straight, here are a couple of them off the top of my head:
#1 - People burned witches at the stake all the time in the Middle Ages. Not really - the worst witchcraft persecutions in Europe were after the Middle Ages were over, in the 16th and 17th centuries. The 17th century was probably the worst. Even then, some parts of Europe were afflicted much worse by witch hunts than others. The German speaking areas of what is now Germany, Austria, and Switzerland were especially prone to withcraft mania, as were Scotland and the Spanish Netherlands (what is now Belgium). Mediterranean countries were least affected. The otherwise fearsome Spanish Inquisition displayed virtually no interest in pursuing allegations of witchcraft, perhaps because the paranoia in Spanish society was focused on the theme of secret Jews and Muslims pretending to be Christians. England also had few witchcraft persecutions, with the exception of the region of Essex. It's probably not a coicidence that Essex was the source of a very large portion of English settlers in Massachusetts, including Salem, where the witch persecutions came to the American colonies in a big way.
#2 - Science and Religion have always been opposed to each other. They have been opposed at times, and good friends at other times. The relationship between the two has been more of an on-again, off-again, love-hate type. To take just one slice of history, many people who are considered pioneers in western science were deeply religious or deeply influenced by religion. Copernicus, who suggested that the planets move around the sun rather than the earth, studied for a career in the Catholic church. Kepler, who discovered the key laws of motion for the planets, had originally intended to be a Lutheran minister and remained devout throughout his life (as an addition, he also made a living for much of his life by casting horoscopes for wealthy aristocrats). Galileo counted many prominent churchmen among his friends, until he had a famous and spectacular falling out with church authorities later in his life. Isaac Newton wrote as much on theology as he did on mathematics, physics, and optics. He was almost obsessed with searching the Bible for clues about the nature of God, and when the world would end and the last judgment would come. He did not see any inconsistency between this and his fascination with discovering mathematical and physical laws. Charles Darwin became agnostic later in life, but he first developed his interest in biology under the influence of Anglican clergy who were enthusiastic about biology because they saw studying God's creation as a form of reverence for God. In more recent times, conflicts about issues like creationism and evolutionism have tended to obscure the fact that for most of history, religion and science were not seen as being at all incompatible. In fact, the majority of religious people today, in almost every religious group, accept most of the basic claims of science. There is simply a difference of interpretations - some people look at scientific discoveries and see proof of God and religion, others look at the exact same thing and see proof of the nonexistence of God and the falseness of religion, while still others think that science can neither prove nor disprove religious beliefs.
#1 - People burned witches at the stake all the time in the Middle Ages. Not really - the worst witchcraft persecutions in Europe were after the Middle Ages were over, in the 16th and 17th centuries. The 17th century was probably the worst. Even then, some parts of Europe were afflicted much worse by witch hunts than others. The German speaking areas of what is now Germany, Austria, and Switzerland were especially prone to withcraft mania, as were Scotland and the Spanish Netherlands (what is now Belgium). Mediterranean countries were least affected. The otherwise fearsome Spanish Inquisition displayed virtually no interest in pursuing allegations of witchcraft, perhaps because the paranoia in Spanish society was focused on the theme of secret Jews and Muslims pretending to be Christians. England also had few witchcraft persecutions, with the exception of the region of Essex. It's probably not a coicidence that Essex was the source of a very large portion of English settlers in Massachusetts, including Salem, where the witch persecutions came to the American colonies in a big way.
#2 - Science and Religion have always been opposed to each other. They have been opposed at times, and good friends at other times. The relationship between the two has been more of an on-again, off-again, love-hate type. To take just one slice of history, many people who are considered pioneers in western science were deeply religious or deeply influenced by religion. Copernicus, who suggested that the planets move around the sun rather than the earth, studied for a career in the Catholic church. Kepler, who discovered the key laws of motion for the planets, had originally intended to be a Lutheran minister and remained devout throughout his life (as an addition, he also made a living for much of his life by casting horoscopes for wealthy aristocrats). Galileo counted many prominent churchmen among his friends, until he had a famous and spectacular falling out with church authorities later in his life. Isaac Newton wrote as much on theology as he did on mathematics, physics, and optics. He was almost obsessed with searching the Bible for clues about the nature of God, and when the world would end and the last judgment would come. He did not see any inconsistency between this and his fascination with discovering mathematical and physical laws. Charles Darwin became agnostic later in life, but he first developed his interest in biology under the influence of Anglican clergy who were enthusiastic about biology because they saw studying God's creation as a form of reverence for God. In more recent times, conflicts about issues like creationism and evolutionism have tended to obscure the fact that for most of history, religion and science were not seen as being at all incompatible. In fact, the majority of religious people today, in almost every religious group, accept most of the basic claims of science. There is simply a difference of interpretations - some people look at scientific discoveries and see proof of God and religion, others look at the exact same thing and see proof of the nonexistence of God and the falseness of religion, while still others think that science can neither prove nor disprove religious beliefs.