A lot of interesting ideas have been banged around since I last checked in here, it seems!
On the historical evolution of religions (if there was ever a more ironic phrase ...), and some context as to why many still allow religion to dictate their understanding of scientific concepts:
Religious ideas, before the Roman Empire, tended to metamorphosize as scientific understanding advanced. This is how things should be. As someone pointed out a few posts back, we used to have sun gods, moon gods, animal gods, etc. As we began to understand more about our world, the need for these gods vanished. So, for the most part, did these concepts. The reason this process derailed so violently is traceable mostly to the pragmatic mindest of Roman rulers in the Empire's declining years. The last of the "pagan" religions (based on physical objects, i.e. the sun) were beginning to die out just as the two Abrahamic religions which existed at the time (Judaism and Christianity) began to rise in popularity. Pagan religions became observably false as understanding of cosmic phenomena expanded, and Abrahamic religions offered a more "introspective" outlook - they dealt with much more intangible concepts like morality, redemption, life and "life beyond", and as such, were essentially impossible to dismiss through scientific and philosophical methods of the time.
The Roman emperors noticed the dramatic surge in the popularity of these religions, and very swiftly moved to incorporate them in an official sense into the fabric of Roman (and hence most all of Western) society. This is why Christmas falls when it does - it coincides with a major Pagan holiday, which it replaced - the populace was used to a major holiday at the end of the year. Most historians believe Jesus was actually born sometime in the Spring, if I remember correctly.
Gibbon, author of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, believes that the incorporation of Christianity into the social framework played a large role in its eventual downfall. I don't necessarily agree as the reasons for the Empire's fall are obviously multitudinous. Nonetheless, the reach of the Roman Empire extended to the whole of the Western world. Its fall and the subsequent dark ages left Christianity the mysticism-of-choice to fall back on in the West, and a newcomer to the word stage, Islam, the mysticism-of-choice in the East.
The Enlightenment began to change all that. Once again, science took its place at the mantle of thoughtful society and, despite what modern religious leaders suggest, atheism became widespread and wasn't NEARLY so stigmatized as it is today. Man once again began the forward march of progress towards relegating religion to a proper role - the "explanation" of things science as yet could not address. We'd have continued down this road had it not been for that pesky pair of continents we call North and South America.
Those who longed for a return to "simpler", "more moral" times took advantage of this new unexplored and mostly unsettled land to found a multiplicity of nations mostly based on orthodox and puritan ideals. This coincided with a puritan revolution in Europe.
Geopolitically, right at this time, the world reached a point of relative stasis. There are no more lands to be explored, and the types of wars and conflicts that destroy entire nations, and as such, their religions, simply don't happen anymore. Historically, one religion became untenable scientifically, and would eventually, through war or politics, become obsolete. Now, three major religions have consolidated influence over the entire Western world, and much of the Eastern world. There is no more juxtaposition of ideas to mutate them, nor, unfortunately, is there evidence that this will happen anytime soon.
This all results in an uneasy balance between religion and science. With science reaching the point now where it's addressing concepts that obviate the need for the diminished capacity of religion, religion has no realm left to which it can retreat, and as such, must go on the attack. It's done so with distressing success since the puritan movement. Hopefully things will change, and concepts like Evolution will cease to be assaulted by those who see it as an attack on the crutch that supports their worldview. If not, I don't think I want to see the results.
