Often in AH Fiction where Protestant Reformation doesn't happen, such as The Alteration by Kingsley Adams, science is presented as suppressed, persecuted, or at least looked down upon. But, if we look at real history, the opposite seems more likely.
Before the Protestant Reformation, Catholic Church tolerated, or even promoted, science. In the Middle Ages for example, monasteries preserved tons of important knowledge from before the Fall of the Roman Empire. And the church didn't see science as an affront to God. If anything, it was a means of understanding God.
Roger Bacon, a 13th century monk and a scientist (or a natural philosopher as they were called back then), wrote of the importance of mathematics("mathematics is the door and the key to the sciences") and experimentation ("experiment is the only safe guide in such investigation"). He also predicted, or rather theorized, the coming of motor boats ("It's possible to make Engines to sail withall, as that either fresh or salt water vessels may be guided by the help of one man, and made sail with a greater swiftness, than others will which are full of men to help them. "), cars("It's possible to make a Chariot move with an inestimable swiftnesse, and this motion to be without the help of any living creature. "), and even airplanes("It's possible to make Engines for flying, a man sitting in the midst whereof, by turning onely about an Instrument, which moves artificiall Wings made to beat the Aire, much after the fashion of a Birds flight."). It should also be noted that Bacon discovered spectrum before Isaac Newton.
Of course it all changed when the Protestant Reformation started. Martin Luther spoke against sciences, such as Copernicus' heliocentric thought. And as Protestantism spread out, the Catholic Church answered with Counter-Reformation, which turned tolerance to science into repression, and many Scientists, such as Galileo, became victims of the Counter-Reformation.
But how would have science turned out in a world where Protestant Reformation, for one reason or another, never happened?
Before the Protestant Reformation, Catholic Church tolerated, or even promoted, science. In the Middle Ages for example, monasteries preserved tons of important knowledge from before the Fall of the Roman Empire. And the church didn't see science as an affront to God. If anything, it was a means of understanding God.
Roger Bacon, a 13th century monk and a scientist (or a natural philosopher as they were called back then), wrote of the importance of mathematics("mathematics is the door and the key to the sciences") and experimentation ("experiment is the only safe guide in such investigation"). He also predicted, or rather theorized, the coming of motor boats ("It's possible to make Engines to sail withall, as that either fresh or salt water vessels may be guided by the help of one man, and made sail with a greater swiftness, than others will which are full of men to help them. "), cars("It's possible to make a Chariot move with an inestimable swiftnesse, and this motion to be without the help of any living creature. "), and even airplanes("It's possible to make Engines for flying, a man sitting in the midst whereof, by turning onely about an Instrument, which moves artificiall Wings made to beat the Aire, much after the fashion of a Birds flight."). It should also be noted that Bacon discovered spectrum before Isaac Newton.
Of course it all changed when the Protestant Reformation started. Martin Luther spoke against sciences, such as Copernicus' heliocentric thought. And as Protestantism spread out, the Catholic Church answered with Counter-Reformation, which turned tolerance to science into repression, and many Scientists, such as Galileo, became victims of the Counter-Reformation.
But how would have science turned out in a world where Protestant Reformation, for one reason or another, never happened?