Religion In The Middle Ages

Throughout the course of history Religion has played a key role in the development of human culture. Specifically, in the Middle Ages Christianity had a huge impact on western civilization. Without religion it is apparent that in some ways western culture would have suffered, but the absence of religion would not have been entirely dreadful. Religion has been the cause of some of history’s most senseless violence and today this is still an issue. In the Middle Ages, Christianity in particular is responsible for oppressing scientific thought and suffocating the lust for knowledge. While these were the downsides to religion, social customs in general changed for the better. After being exposed to religion, cultures that were more barbaric would often hold human life in a higher regard and infanticide was against many religious teachings. Although, there were …show more content…
Eastern religions like Islam have had many intellectuals who have made contributions to science. The muslims in the middle ages held knowledge and books in high regard. While Christians were busy waiting for the hereafter, muslims had been seeking enlightenment and sought to protect it. The Catholic Church had a notorious reputation for persecuting anyone theorizing on topics they deemed heretical. Consequently, for hundreds of years the church extinguished scientific endeavors and set the advancement of society back. This is one of the most profound effects religion has had on the development of today’s culture. Yet, the church would later somewhat rectify its smothering of enlightenment. The vast majority of ivy league schools were all once religious. In fact, schools including Harvard, Yale, and Princeton were all founded with a religious basis. This point may be outside of the intended time frame; however, it does indicate that religion did make an improvement in