On the topic of science as an accurate tool for understanding how nature works, I thought it would be thought-provoking to point out that even something as accepted as evolution originally had many different interpretations as to
how it worked. You had many people besides Darwin putting forward their own theories like Alfred Russell Wallace and Lamarck.
Darwin's was the one whom everyone agreed was the most scientific, not because he was its sole discoverer, but because it was the only one with supernatural elements absent. That is something we pagans should be very watchful of.
The other theories of evolution that believed the entire earth was alive (see: Gaia Hypothesis) were still challenging Darwin's materialistic interpretation pretty much until DNA was discovered in the 20th century, but even with our super cool microscopes and digital tech, you still have to take notice of certain hypocrisies such as mainstream scientists denying (or discrediting) Einstein's mysticism, and socialist political views, or Niels Bohr's more controversial ideas.
I think science has helped and harmed the craft in different ways, and has been an ally as well as an enemy at various times depending on the time and place, but it is very much the case that one would not exist without the other, and for that reason I believe this is relevant to the discussion. Many scientists (like the alchemists) started out as pagans but did not live to see their experiments become successful formulas for medicine and other practical purposes.
On the subject of religious dogmatism, I will say that not only do people have a right to their own religion, but that it should include any and every religion that does not deny someone that freedom, and the irony is, without science, it would actually be even harder to convert someone to christianity because then there would be no standard for measuring nature to accurately determine the truth and therefore it would be wild and untamable again.
I am glad science exists though, or we would have another witch hunt. There are no Jehova's witnesses where I live, but a lot of Catholics and Protestants, and while they mostly leave me alone, I think there is a very strong collective memory of how these groups used to act, before the age of Enlightenment happened, that still makes me suspicious at times of how they would react if something drastic changed.
