http://richarddawkins.net/article,1511,Science-and-the-Islamic-World,Pervez-Amirali-Hoodbhoy

There is no islamic, christian, jewish science. The laws of gravity do not favor anyone regardless of their religion. You will fall at the same velocity. Science is a methodology that digs at the truth, truth that is valid and potentially useful for all. A test ran in an islamic country will give the same results as a test ran the vatican. Unless one or both can’t do the test right or falsify their results. Truth has no respect for belief, it just is.

Of course the “religion” to which these people happened to be born, steps in and perhaps tries to take credit, i.e. Islamic Science or Christian Science, which of course “they” cannot. To one person, or group of people, does this credit belong because in most cases they have “broken” the laws of their respective religious bonds and had the courage to stand by their findings, sometimes even in the fire of the stake.

This thread should make us all take a moment to appreciate those who have sacrificed in the name of knowledge and invention and made us who we are today.

No religion deserves any credit for scientific advancement and should have no mention in any science museum.

Perhaps someone knows of an advancement I am unaware of the religions have actively funded with their trillions of dollars?

Reading Hoodbhoy it becomes obvious that religious ideology and scriptural dogma trump scientific discoveries coming from Islamic countries and the scientists therein. It’s really a shame, but at least it helps to reinforce the truth that there IS a conflict between “science” and religion in general. I’ve never bought Stephen Jay Gould’s apologetic notion that these two realms of learning and knowledge constitute “non-overlapping magisteria”. Baloney sauce. They both address questions of existential reality. Science, on the one hand, stands for discovering the as-yet undiscovered; religion (most religions) in essence states that there is nothing left to discover — all you ever need to know is already revealed and written down — the Bible/Koran/Torah/Bhagavad-Gita says it, I believe it, and that settles it. Never mind the fact that science and religion(s) reach diametrically opposed conclusions regarding those questions of existential reality. Who are you going to trust? Your guru or your own lyin’ eyes?

Perhaps the museum would have been better off labeling the exhibit “Contributions to Science from Pre-Rennaisance Era Islamic Culture”. From what Dave writes, it would have been more accurate. But since I have not seen the exhibit myself, I cannot say for certain.

“Islam has no problems with science,” he says. (Waheed Badawy, a chemistry professor who has taught at the University of Cairo since 1967) “As long as what you do does not harm people, it is permitted. You can study what you want, you can say what you want.”

What about, say, evolutionary biology or Darwinism? I ask. (Evolution is taught in Egyptian schools, although it is banned in Saudi Arabia and Sudan). “If you are asking if Adam came from a monkey, no,” Badawy responds. “Man did not come from a monkey. If I am religious, if I agree with Islam, then I have to respect all of the ideas of Islam. And one of these ideas is the creation of the human from Adam and Eve. If I am a scientist, I have to believe that.”

But from the point of view of a scientist, is it not just a story? I ask. He tells me that if I were writing an article saying that Adam and Eve is a big lie, it will not be accepted until I can prove it.

“Nobody can just write what he thinks without proof. But we have real proof that the story of Adam as the first man is true.”

What proof? I ask.

He looks at me with disbelief: “It’s written in the Koran.”

Islam in Science, my ass. Islam throws up roadblocks at every turn, just like every other religion. I think they are painfully aware that if the flock becomes too educated, they will realize how ridiculous their particular brand of mythology is, and leave in droves. I can think of no other reason for such hostility to something that is so beneficial to human kind.