Most people avoid truth. There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all argument, and which cannot fail to keep man in everlasting ignorance. That principle is condemnation before investigation. – Edmund Spencer.
Non-Christians say that Christianity teaches us to be satisfied with not really understanding; that “oh, God did it” is enough. That it stultifies the impulse to understand because it provides and easy apparent explanation and prevents further work on the problem. This is purely secular western propaganda. In fact it is the opposite for Christianity and this is more the case for atheism / secularism, especially around evolution.
Modern science is the child of European civilisation. This is due to the unique contribution of the Christian faith to western culture. It was the Christian world which finally gave birth in a clear, articulate fashion to the experimental method of science itself. - Loren Eisley.
Whiteheads thesis. Human beings became scientific because they expected law in nature and they expected this because they believed in a law giver.
Far from religion hindering science, it was the driving force behind science in the first place.
Somewhere down in this, atheists are making a category mistake. They are confusing mechanism with agency; “We have found a mechanism, it does x, y and z therefore there is no need for an agent”. Instead, the sophistication of such mechanisms, and science rejoices in finding such mechanisms, is evidence for the sheer wonder of the creative genius of God.
Why do we live in a universe where evolution is even possible? The fine-tuned universe where intelligent life began to emerge, begs for an agent outside of this wonderfully complex yet constant Cosmos.
“It is possible that an unknown agent set the early conditions of the universe we observe today” - Leonard Susskind (a non-religious string theory scientist).
Faith is the absence of evidence? In our modern age the word faith has somehow become to mean believing something without evidence, but that is far from truth. Christian faith is based on evidence and not merely blind trust in an unknown being/spirit. Christian faith in God is based primarily on the faithful testimony of the scriptures, the logical coherence of the intelligibility of the cosmos crated by an intelligent designer and the internal persuasion by the work of the Holy Spirit. To that end Christian faith is not a leap into the dark, but into the light.