There were a few time periods in our history where religion and the church where the highest drivers for scientific progress. In part because of the believe that our understanding of the world would bring us closer to it's creator, but more so the fact that knowledge is power - the more you knew about the world the bigger the kingdom you could rule.

Nowadays access to knowledge is trivial, so the power comes not from the knowledge itself but from controlling the flow of information. If you can find an excuse for people to not ask the right questions, then you have power over them. This is sort of the main shtick with the church and government right now. While the government has the resources, the church has the experience. That's why they are so hard to separate. They both have a hard on for each other.