“The so-called ‘war’ between faith and learning, specifically between orthodox Christian theology and science, was manufactured during the second half of the nineteenth century. It is a construct that was created for polemical purposes.”

Justin Taylor explains this quote from historian Timothy Larsen by pointing to the popular work of two men:

• Andrew Dickson White (1832-1918), the founding president of Cornell University, and
• John William Draper (1811-1882), professor of chemistry at the University of New York.

He says these men lied about history in order to create the impression that orthodox Christians had always opposed scientific investigations and inventions. Two of the myths they popularized were that the church-dominated medieval world believed in a flat earth and that Christians opposed anesthetics in childbirth based on an interpretation of the Genesis curse.