Once could argue that Aristotle took things off the rails, but before him people had developed empiricism which really is the method at its heart.
I will certainly concede that the modern scientific method came about after rejecting Aristotle’s errors. That took longer than it should have since he was so well regarded.
As you say, and I agree, Christianity was a religion that at least didn’t get in the way of the development (with hiccups, eg Galileo). Other religions, Islam, Bhuddism, Hinduism have mysticism and anti-scientific thinking at their cores.
The Christian perspective encouraged the biblical tradition of testing the validity of information in the belief that the furtherance of knowledge would increase our understanding of Scripture.
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Other religions, Islam, Bhuddism, Hinduism have mysticism and anti-scientific thinking at their cores.
In addition, the Greek concept of the divinity of nature was an impediment for them.