Using the biblical dictum, 'the tree is known by its fruit', humanist George Erickson surveys the historical record left by the defenders of faith and the proponents of reason. His analysis challenges the commonly held belief that despite its many abuses religion on balance civilised the world. Tracking the unfettered progress of science in pre-Christian, polytheistic societies, he notes that this progress was soon thwarted when Christianity gained the ascendancy in the West. Its carrot-and-stick approach of heaven and hell, combined with a missionary passion and various superstitions and miracles, proved to be inimical to the advance of scientific reasoning.
