If you've received a college education in the sciences you've probably been exposed to a one or more of the following myths about the relationship of science and religion:
You've probably heard that science and religion are incompatible and indeed are even "at war" with each other. I've written about this "warfare myth" here and here.
You've probably heard, too, that the ancients, following the Bible, believed that the earth was flat, and you also might've heard that the release of Nicholaus Copernicus' book De Revolutionibus in 1543 debunked the belief, promoted by the Church, that the earth, and thus mankind, enjoyed a privileged place at the center of the universe.
It turns out that each of these commonly held myths is false. Science and religion have never been at war, the ancients did not believe the world was flat, and although prior to Copernicus, it was believed that the earth was at the center of the universe, the center was not believed to be a privileged position. Indeed, it was thought that the center was a sump where all the corruption and offal of the universe accumulated.
Ironically, it turns out that the ancients were correct in one sense, though. With almost every new scientific discovery the universe appears to be more and more anthropocentric. Man is at the ontological center of the universe, as an increasing number of scientists are pointing out, either implicitly or explicitly.
For an example of the latter see geneticist Michael Denton's new book The Miracle of Man in which he catalogs the stunning array of physical and chemical properties of the universe, and thus the laws of physics and chemistry, that are exquisitely calibrated to make human life possible.
Other books have made similar arguments. Lewis and Barnes' A Fortunate Universe, Gonzalez and Richards' Privileged Planet, and Stephen Meyer's Return of the God Hypothesis are just three which come to mind, but there are many more.
But going back to the myths. Historian of science Michael Keas explains why each of them (and one other) is false in this 12 minute video. He also shows how atheists like Neil deGrasse Tyson and the late Christopher Hitchens who subscribe to the myths are simply not very well-informed.
