I don't disagree with that by much. Religious institutions in the past have preserved or advanced scientific discovery at times. The difference is that Philosophy consists of seeking the truth, institutionalized religion usually consists of defending the truth. Religions may spawn some scientific inquiry, but they have a lot of trouble letting their children go off and live their own lives, so to speak.
Suppose you discover that you can get nasty illnesses from being exposed to other peoples germs which are spread in their bodily emissions, indeed some of those illnesses can kill.
You then have kids.
Do you defend that truth by instructing them to wash their hands, cover their mouths when they cough, avoid contact with faeces, etc., to stop germs spreading? Or, do you have to wait until that child is old enough to discover germs for themselves?
The Church has always sponsored scientific enquiry as Christians believe that knowing more about the created enables us to know more about the creator.
Many universities (in Europe) grew out of monastic study and mediaeval universities were founded both by the wealth of princes and by papal bull. Individual scientists, Roger Bacon say, were provided a living by the church others, Copernicus springs to mind, were sponsored in their studies by particular bishops or similar Church luminaries.
The Catholic Church still operates at least one observatory which has been going since the 16 Century.
As highlighted in the Merton-Weber thesis scientific enquiry in the 17, 18 Century appears to have been pushed on by Protestant philosophy.
Galileo was educated in part in a monastery and at the Uni of Pisa (founded by a pope). He was sponsored by the Church to do his studies; when he wished to publish his pamphlet the authorities urged caution and refused to state outright that heliocentrism were true wishing instead to gather more evidence. Galileo went ahead pissed off the papacy and was censured.
Indeed if we consider Einsteins relativity then we might argue that the anti's were right to hold reservations as without an ether it is no more correct to say that the Earth revolves around the Sun than it is to say the Earth is static. I doubt they had this in mind though.
