For all those who think this:

“For most people, religion is nothing more than a substitute for a malfunctioning brain.”

we now have a response, thanks to JP Holding, that gives us useful information like this:

José de Acosta, S.J. (Spanish: 1540-1600) is called the Pliny of the New World because of his book Natural and Moral History of the Indies which provided the first detailed description of the geography and culture of Latin America, Aztec history and - of all things - the uses of coca. For his work on altitude sickness in the Andes he is listed as one of the pioneers of modern aeronautical medicine. José was far ahead of his time in the selection and description of his observations. Not satisfied, however, with mere descriptions, he tried to explain causes. José was one of the earliest geophysicists, having been among the first to observe, record and analyze earthquakes, volcanoes, tides, currents, magnetic declinations and meteorological phenomena.

To quote someone whose name I forgot, people don't realize that all this obsession with science and the claims that it can answer all questions have a fundamentally Judaeo-Christian basis to them. There have been cultures with great math, great writing, great military might . . . but no science, because their religions didn't tell them that the universe was at a fundamental level understandable and reasonable, which is, I think, a metaphysical statement that must lie at the center of any Christian idea of existance. It is only because of the Church and her relatives that science even has a place in our society, and to accuse the same institution which funded the Renaissance of having a "malfunctional brain" is kinda irregular.