Science and Religion - Is there really a confict?

I just finished watching the movie "Angels & Demons" based on Dan Brown's book. I have not read the book yet, so I cannot comment on whether the movie is faithful to the book, but the movie was a good mystery. No matter where you stand on the science versus religion issue, "Angels & Demons" takes known facts and locations and wraps them together into a fascinating pseudo-historical work of fiction. I found it compelling enough to watch a History Channel presentation on the book and the movie.

The 90 minute History Channel presentation entitled "Angels & Demons: Decoded" looks at the book, the movie, the history in the book, the conspiracy theories contained in both the book and the movie, and the science behind the "bomb". I found it to be, if you will pardon the pun, very "illuminating". For myself, as an engineer and long-time Star Trek fan, the explanation of what anti-matter really is, how it is generated, and why billions of dollars and euros are being spent to create it, the History Channel has done a wonderful job of explaining those things.

The history behind the actions taken by Galileo, Bernini, and others, along with possible explanations of the machinations of secret groups within and without the church were discussed. If you are not a fan of history, a conspiracy theorist, or a scientist, then some of the explanations may seem a bit long-winded. However, I found it a jumping off point which led me to a wikipedia article on the inquisition. From there, I was led to the transcripts of the "trial" of Joan D'Arc. The history of those times is one that has been either trivialized (watered down) or just plain ignored by much of what passes for history text books in our schools.

All-in-all, I found watching the movie and the History Channel presentation to be an exciting romp through Rome, history, and science. The 3 hours spent watching them and other time looking more into history by way of the internet was, in my opinion, time well spent. Definitely a much wiser choice than watching more re-runs of NCIS, Bones, or Dirty Jobs.