Secularity and Science: What Scientists Around the World Really Think About Religion
Elaine Howard Ecklund, David R. Johnson, Brandon Vaidyanathan, Kirstin R.W. Matthews, Steven W. Lewis, Robert A. Thomson, and Di Di
Abstract
In order to take an in-depth look at the relationship between science and religion around the world, the authors of this book completed the most comprehensive international study of scientists’ attitudes toward religion ever undertaken, surveying more than twenty thousand scientists and conducting in-depth interviews with over six hundred of them. From this wealth of data, the authors extract the real story of the relationship between science and religion in the lives of scientists around the world. Secularity and Science makes four big claims: There are more religious scientists than we might ... More
In order to take an in-depth look at the relationship between science and religion around the world, the authors of this book completed the most comprehensive international study of scientists’ attitudes toward religion ever undertaken, surveying more than twenty thousand scientists and conducting in-depth interviews with over six hundred of them. From this wealth of data, the authors extract the real story of the relationship between science and religion in the lives of scientists around the world. Secularity and Science makes four big claims: There are more religious scientists than we might think. Religion and science sometimes overlap in scientific work. Scientists—even some atheist scientists—see spirituality in science. And finally, the idea that religion and science must conflict is an invention of the West. Throughout the chapters, the book couples nationally representative survey data with captivating stories of individual scientists, whose experiences highlight these important themes in the data. Secularity and Science leaves inaccurate assumptions about science and religion behind, and offers a new, more nuanced understanding of how science and religion interact and how they can be integrated for the common good.
Keywords:
science,
religion,
United States,
United Kingdom,
France,
Italy,
Turkey,
India,
Hong Kong,
Taiwan
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2019 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780190926755 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: July 2019 |
DOI:10.1093/oso/9780190926755.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Elaine Howard Ecklund, author
Herbert S. Autrey Chair in Social Sciences, Rice University
David R. Johnson, author
Assistant Professor, University of Nevada Reno
Brandon Vaidyanathan, author
Associate Professor of Sociology, Catholic University of America
Kirstin R.W. Matthews, author
Fellow in Science and Technology Policy, Baker Institute for Public Policy
Steven W. Lewis, author
C.V. Starr Transnational China Fellow, Baker Institute for Public Policy
Robert A. Thomson, author
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Rice University
Di Di, author
Doctoral Candidate, Rice University
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