Creationism in Public Schools

[Jean-Paul Sartre]

Back in a time when the church held a virtual monopoly on "scientific research" one had to pretend to be religious, give it at least lip service in order to be able to research with proper facilities. And there were times when there was the implicit threat of the inquisition against those in positions of influence who dared to question certain widely held beliefs. Galileo was put on trial by the inquisition for daring to espouse a heliocentric view of our solar system rather than the church's supported earth centric idea. He was even convicted of heresy. I'm sure he became very cautious afterwards as to not to offend the 'church'.

While rest of your argument not quoted here may or may not be correct, I have extreme problem with "Back in a time when the church held a virtual monopoly on "scientific research" ".
I believe these opinions are modern VERY inaccurate depictions of reality. It actual is specific modern type of propaganda.

Because LAST time when "church" had any real power on scientific thought was before reformation.
People like Copernicus lived in 1487, and even then Copernicus revolutionary idea was that center of world is not earth but Sun. The church never EVER said (at least during the last millennia) that earth is not round or any other bullshit the people are implying.
While I am not particulary familiar with southern europe situation, I am almost compleatly sure than nowhere in central/nothern europe any church had anything to do with scientific research.
Maybe only exception is reaction towards Darwin, but that was more on personal level of individual people. If I am mistaken please give me ANY official denial by any western mainstream christian church.
If that was issued by some of the Happy clappy usa evangelists and their of-shots, then it does not count. It is specifically their unique problem.

By the way: Galileo was Italian guy (lived in 16xx) who often offended fellow compatriots, but managed to publish several books. He offended the Pope personaly and was condemned heretical. But he was never burned. And by the way he published most of his books and research AFTER his condemnation. And yes he believed in Copernicus idea of sun in center of universe and found more proof of that.

Bullshit. The church had much power well into the 1700’s over science and philosophy, as evidenced by calls for David Hume’s excommunication.

[BeatsMe]

Bullshit. The church had much power well into the 1700’s over science and philosophy, as evidenced by calls for David Hume’s excommunication.

Excuse me. As far as I can see this Hume was " philosopher" that wrote about god, too.
However it is unclear to me how exactly whatever happened with this guy it can be generalized about scientific thought? And more importantly I cant really find out what exactly bad happened to him specifically? As far as I can see he remained wealthy government official till his death.
If this is best example of any western church having power over hard science, then it is simply proves that after reformation church had no power over science.

[Jean-Paul Sartre]

Bullshit. The church had much power well into the 1700’s over science and philosophy, as evidenced by calls for David Hume’s excommunication.

Excuse me. As far as I can see this Hume was " philosopher" that wrote about god, too.
However it is unclear to me how exactly whatever happened with this guy it can be generalized about scientific thought? And more importantly I cant really find out what exactly bad happened to him specifically? As far as I can see he remained wealthy government official till his death.
If this is best example of any western church having power over hard science, then it is simply proves that after reformation church had no power over science.

The church was in decline then, but the fact that there were open calls for his removal from office on the basis of merely his lack of belief paints a grim picture.