These modern critics are just the most recent in a long line of folks who have tried to reframe the record and portray Christians as historically anti-science. Perhaps one of the most influential of these was Andrew Dickson White (1832-1918), a founder of Cornell University, who wrote a two-volume work titled A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christianity. In this work, he conveyed one of the commonly told stories wielded as a club against Christianity: That Church leaders refused to support Columbus because they did not believe the earth was round. The problem with such a story is that it, like many of the supposed “conflict” narratives pitting science against faith, was actually a myth. In his book, For the Glory of God, historian Rodney Stark corrects the record:

Every educated person of the time, including Roman Catholic prelates, knew the earth was round…. [Those who] challenged Columbus and advised against funding him… not only knew the earth was round; they also knew it was far larger than Columbus thought it was. They opposed his plan only because he badly underestimated the circumference of the earth and was counting on much too short a voyage… Had the Western Hemisphere not existed, and Columbus had no knowledge that it did, he and his crew would have died at sea. (122)

The truth is, faithful Christians and devout theists have been at the forefront of scientific discovery:

• Francis Bacon, who formulated the modern scientific method, was a dedicated Christian. The last words he ever wrote read, “Be merciful unto me, O Lord, for my Saviour’s sake, and receive me into thy bosom” (The Works of Francis Bacon, vol 2, 405).
• Isaac Newton, the father of modern physics, was hailed for his life and death. The English poet Alexander Pope famously memorialized him with the words, “Nature, and Nature’s Laws, lay hid in Night. God said, ‘Let Newton be!’ and All was Light.” But Newton wrote much more theology than he did science (penning 1.3 million words on biblical subjects) (Hummel).
• Antoine Lavoisier, a believer and the father of modern chemistry and the periodic table of elements, was, ironically, beheaded by the atheist regime of the French Revolution.
• Some of the most important figures in physics were believers, Daniel Bernoulli, Max Planck, and Max Born. The “big bang” theory was formulated by a Jesuit Catholic priest, Georges Lemaitre. 
• The list could continue, but we conclude with this little nugget: The very term “scientist” was coined by William Whewell, an Anglican priest.

Even Darwin himself saw no inherent conflict between faith and science. Over time, his personal experiences of loss and tragedy eroded his faith in a good God. But even so, penned these words:

I cannot anyhow be content to view this wonderful universe, and especially the nature of man, and to conclude that everything is the result of brute force. I am inclined to look at everything as resulting from designed laws, with the details, whether good or bad, left to the working out of what we may call chance. Not that this notion at all satisfies me (Darwin, The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, 104).

Is Christianity anti-science? Hardly. We worship the Creator God who has designed a universe that can be studied and comprehended by the human mind in the first place. We worship the Redeemer God who took on flesh and blood, entering our space and forever declaring this universe worth His love and care. We worship the Self-disclosing God, who reveals Himself not only in the things that He has made but also in the Bible, which provides us with a framework not only for understanding the world but living rightly within it.