Overview

Do scientists see conflict between science and faith? Which cultural factors shape the attitudes of scientists toward religion? Can scientists help show us a way to build collaboration between scientific and religious communities, if such collaborations are even possible? To answer these questions and more, the authors of Secularity and Science: What Scientists Around the World Really Think About Religion completed the most comprehensive international study of scientists' attitudes toward religion ever undertaken, surveying more than 20,000 scientists and conducting in-depth interviews with over 600 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. The book makes four key claims: there are more religious scientists then we might think; religion and science overlap in scientific work; scientists - even atheist scientists - see spirituality in science; and finally, the idea that religion and science must conflict is primarily an invention of the West. Throughout, 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, offering a new, more nuanced understanding of how science and religion interact and how they can be integrated for the common good.

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9780190926786

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This well-written and highly readable book is based on the most comprehensive study of scientists in very different social and cultural contexts, including Western countries and Chinese societies. The survey findings provide an overview of the contrast between scientists and the general population in regard to religion in each society, and the in-depth interviews with scientists provide nuanced understanding of their views and their distinct social and cultural contexts. Among many takeaways, it is interesting to see that from the West to the East, most contemporary scientists do not perceive religion and science in conflict. -- Fenggang Yang, Professor of Sociology and Director of Center on Religion and Chinese Society, Purdue University Investigations of scientists' views of religion have generally only examined the U.S. case. This book, based on a monumental amount of data across eight countries, is without question the most extensive study of religious and national differences in views of religion and science - and expertly shines new light on that relationship. --John H. Evans, Tata Chancellor's Chair and Associate Dean of Social Sciences, University of California San Diego An exciting book to better understand the broad variety of links between science and religion in different national contexts, thanks to a deep quantitative and qualitative survey with scientists in eight countries. --Pierre Br chon, co-editor with Fr d ric Gonthier of European Values, Trends and Divides Over Thirty Years (2017) Science and Secularity provides a meticulously detailed look at how the social contexts of science and religion in different countries shape scientists' views of religion. No matter where one stands in debates about the relationship between science and religion, this book provides for the first time an important social scientific perspective that will be essential to how we understand the relationship between scientists and religious people as well as the university within society around the globe. --Dr Chantal Saint-Blancat, former associated Professor of Sociology, University of Padua

"""This well-written and highly readable book is based on the most comprehensive study of scientists in very different social and cultural contexts, including Western countries and Chinese societies. The survey findings provide an overview of the contrast between scientists and the general population in regard to religion in each society, and the in-depth interviews with scientists provide nuanced understanding of their views and their distinct social and cultural contexts. Among many takeaways, it is interesting to see that from the West to the East, most contemporary scientists do not perceive religion and science in conflict."" -- Fenggang Yang, Professor of Sociology and Director of Center on Religion and Chinese Society, Purdue University ""Investigations of scientists' views of religion have generally only examined the U.S. case. This book, based on a monumental amount of data across eight countries, is without question the most extensive study of religious and national differences in views of religion and science - and expertly shines new light on that relationship.""--John H. Evans, Tata Chancellor's Chair and Associate Dean of Social Sciences, University of California San Diego ""An exciting book to better understand the broad variety of links between science and religion in different national contexts, thanks to a deep quantitative and qualitative survey with scientists in eight countries.""--Pierre Br�chon, co-editor with Fr�d�ric Gonthier of European Values, Trends and Divides Over Thirty Years (2017) ""Science and Secularity provides a meticulously detailed look at how the social contexts of science and religion in different countries shape scientists' views of religion. No matter where one stands in debates about the relationship between science and religion, this book provides for the first time an important social scientific perspective that will be essential to how we understand the relationship between scientists and religious people as well as the university within society around the globe.""--Dr Chantal Saint-Blancat, former associated Professor of Sociology, University of Padua"

Author Information

Elaine Howard Ecklund is Herbert S. Autrey Chair in Social Sciences at Rice University. David R. Johnson is Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership at University of Nevada, Reno. Brandon Vaidyanathan is Associate Professor of Sociology at The Catholic University of America. Kirstin R.W. Matthews is Fellow in Science and Technology Policy at the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University. Steven W. Lewis is C.V. Starr Transnational China Fellow at the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University. Robert A. Thomson Jr. is Assistant Professor of Sociology at University of Alabama in Hunstville Di Di is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Santa Clara University

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