In the West I do wonder to what extent religion is used as a convenient excuse to back up personal agendas, profit being the obvious one. I really can't see the likes of Trump giving a toss about any god. It shuts the opposition up, but if it became a burden at any point I think he'd quite happily recrucify jesus.

Science is to a great extent free from, and indifferent to, religion. Still, religion puts a damper on science because it influences our funding priorities for research, and interferes with free inquiry (think: stem cell research for example). But other forces do, too. There is areligious willful ignorance, underinvestment in / underappreciation for education, warfare, general laziness, and a bunch of other things. It's hard to know how consequential religion is in that mix, and hard to quantify exactly where we'd be without them.

One might as well ask if being human is slowing scientific progress. We are doing science as humans, for humans, so it's going to be a gnarly, uneven progress no matter what.

Seth McFarlane who is a known atheist and creator of Family Guy showed in the episode "Road to the Multiverse" that the world would be 1000 years ahead without Christianity. Here's a youtube link showing that segement of the episode.

Religion is about power and control. Science challenges religion with logic , and religions fight back. Some of the really extreme evangelicals want the destruction of the world to come in order to validate their belief in the book of Revelations. They are actually looking forward to it because they think they are they the chosen few and will be going to heaven to meet their god and eternal life. They don’t care about this life as eternal life is their goal. These people see science as barrier to their getting to paradise so try to block scientific advances.

There is an article that talks about the link between stupidity and religiosity.. hahahah
[theamericanconservative.com]

well who likes simple , sorry for grammar i and drunk at this point !!!!

The Spanish inquisition went on for 600 years, maybe we are going back to it.

Ever heard of the dark ages? Hundreds of years of scientific stunting... and yes even now religion holds back scientific research with marijuana,stem cells, cloning. Just sooo much!

Republicans are holding back fundamental scientific research and advancement. The Trump administration banned the Centers for Disease Control and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from using these words:

"On the list are the words "vulnerable," "diversity," "entitlement," "transgender," "fetus," "evidence-based," and "science-based." The decision has not only been deemed as reckless and dangerous, but an offense to the scientific community.

"This goes far beyond an attack on lexicon or word-choice. A ban on words not only creates barriers for scientists who need to communicate, but also breaks public trust in the areas they are meant to investigate and research."

[cnn.com]

VOTE Republicans out of office!

Religion in the US has certainly held back stem cell research.

The idea that god is sending signs of the End Times has certainly made Xians resist the truth about climate change. As has the idea that we don't need to care for our planet, because we're appointed rulers over it.

Religion worldwide has meant people ignore scientific explanations and cures for disease and even epidemics.

Lead to our demise? Well, that's a stretch.