Islam Creator of the Modern Age
4. Liberty, Equality, Fraternity
~ 163 ~
One reason for the constraint on freedom of thought
in the past was that an atmosphere of intellectual
freedom would have jeopardized the whole social
hierarchy, based as it was on religions which had
been tainted by human interpolations. Had free
enquiry been fostered, the rulers would have been
unable to maintain the veracity of such man-made
beliefs as served their purpose. Those who
attempted free and scientific enquiry in the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Europe were,
therefore, subjected by the Church to severe
persecution. It was fear on the part of the religious
authorities of being overthrown, which led to the
persecution of these would-be scientists. Drapier
has given details of these persecutions in his book
entitled
Conflict between Science and Religion.
A more
precise tide would have been, ‘Conflict between
Science and Christianity.’
HUMAN INEQUALITY
Thinking, in ancient times, was heavily blinkered
by polytheism. This was because it suited the rulers
to have their subjects believe that the beings who
occupied the thrones of this world were, in essence,
