Home » S4 Episode 10: What do Muslims think about science?

S4 Episode 10: What do Muslims think about science?

In the 10th episode of Season 4, sociologists Dr Saleema Burney (University of Birmingham) and Dr Stephen Jones (University of Keele), reflect on their research on the ‘Science and British Muslim Religious Leadership’ and ‘Science and Religion: Exploring the Spectrum’ projects where they studied the relationship between science and Islam. Taking a straightforward approach centered on asking Muslim religious leaders what they think about science, they talk about the complexities their research revealed.

(This episode was recorded in September 2024)

 

This podcast is 30 minutes and 52 seconds long.

The keywords associated with this episode are:

  • sociology of Islam
  • sociology of science
  • public understanding of science
  • British Muslims

For more on the research on British Muslims that Saleema and Stephen discuss in the episode, check out their report: Stephen Jones, Saleema Burney and Riyaz Timol (2024). “Science Communication, Islam and Muslim Communities: A Research Brief” University of Birmingham. You can learn more about Stephen’s work on his INSBS profile and also on his institutional profile. Likewise, more about Saleema’s research can be found here. For more on dealing with complexity in understanding different faith groups’ perceptions of science, see this recent collection co-edited by Stephen: Stephen Jones, Fern Elsdon-Baker and James Riley (2025), International Perspectives on Science, Culture, and Belief: From Complexity to Globality (Routledge).

Authors

  • Stephen H. Jones is a sociologist whose research covers themes including equality and discrimination, governance and political participation, religion in public life and the public understanding of science. He specialises in the study of Muslims in the UK and their treatment by British society and the state, with his research in this area encompassing Islamic organisations and movements, governance and securitisation, and Islamophobia. He is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Sociology at the School of Social Science at Keele University.

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  • Saleema Burney

    Dr Burney is a scholar of religion with experience of working with British Muslim communities. Her research interests include ‘lived religion’ in the West, how individuals negotiate religious identities in post-secular societies and research approaches that tackle the increasing populism and division observed in multicultural societies.

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The keywords associated with this article are:

  • British Muslims
  • Evolution
  • Public understanding of science
  • Sociology of Islam
  • Sociology of religion
  • Sociology of science
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