The truth is that Christian theology, like every other theology, is not only

opposed to the scientific spirit; it is also opposed to all other attempts

at rational thinking. Not by accident does Genesis 3 make the father of

knowledge a serpent – slimy, sneaking and abominable. Since the earliest

days the church as an organization has thrown itself violently against every

effort to liberate the body and mind of man. It has been, at all times and

everywhere, the habitual and incorrigible defender of bad governments, bad

laws, bad social theories, bad institutions. It was, for centuries, an

apologist for slavery, as it was the apologist for the divine right of kings.

– H. L. Mencken