Wuf and Oskar are missing my point a little bit. The main point I'm trying to make isn't to call out the church for one instance of censorship.

The larger problem is that it stifles inquisitive thinking. What if someone thought of heliocentricism 500 years before Galileo and Copernicus? What if they had it all figured out but kept their mouth shut because they didn't want to be set on fire in a public square? How much further would science be advanced today if that discovery happened 500 years sooner?

Most religions that I know of purport to have all the answers. This stifles, discourages, and demonizes learning.

And that's like.....really really really bad.

So I'm just not getting MMM's comment that the net effect of religion is positive. It's not.