Published by thinkcreative:

Science and belief among Sufis: The Nordic frontier

Summary: This qualitative research project probes the views about science and religion among Muslim mystics in the Nordic countries. The project team will interview 12 Sufis or students in Sufi circles in Finland, Denmark and Sweden about how they negotiate or imagine the boundary between science and belief. It also investigates how these views are shaped by the Nordic context, a predominantly Lutheran Christian one where Islam remains a relatively minor numerical yet a prominent public and political presence. Recent tensions around Muslims in the Nordic countries have spilled over into broader cultural debates about Islam and science. Yet, mystical doctrines or teachings remain outside these discussions, tilting them in certain directions. This is a major distortion, given the fact that the mystical dimension of Islam plays such a major role in the tradition. By studying how contemporary Sufis in the Nordics view science and belief, this research project will

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Science and Islam in Southeast Queensland, Australia

Summary: Sociological studies of Islam and science are limited in number and scope, with existing studies reinforcing a “deficit model approach” that shows religion as an obstacle to public understanding and acceptance of science (Carlisle et al. 2019 p. 150, Jones et al. 2023). This project locates the study of Islam within the growing field of the sociological study of science and religion, aiming to diversify the field further by exploring how scientific rationalism and belief may coexist (Catto et al. 2019). The study of Islam and science presents an important site for exploring alternative pathways of modernity and “enchanted moderns” (Deeb 2006) that defies the simple equation of modernity with non-religious rationalism. Building on a key development in Anglo-American sociological studies of religion and science that turns to study how people come to relate to science in personally meaningful ways (Evans 2021, Ecklund 2021, Jones et al. 2020, Sharp

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Gerotranscendence and the secularization of society: A Canadian perspective

Summary:  Numerous large-scale surveys in the United States and Europe suggest steady generational declines in religiosity and religious social participation, with visible shifts from one cohort to the next (Idler, 2022). And yet, research considering the secularization of society has largely ignored age and ageing as important points of inquiry (Idler, 2021). Similarly, beliefs in science and religion-science compatibility have rarely been investigated from a gerontological perspective, despite the long-standing concepts of gerotranscendence (Tornstam, 1997) and contemplative ageing (Sherman, 2010). Indeed, the increasing salience of one’s own mortality may enhance religious and/or spiritual concerns among older adults, alongside practical implications of mounting biomedical needs and care considerations. Given a rapidly growing ageing population (WHO, 2022), the need for inquiry into this topic has never been greater. Thus, our guiding research question is “How do older adults understand their own (non)religious and/or spiritual identities and beliefs in science within an increasingly

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Islamic Madrasa Education & Modern Science: Comparative case study of the impact of curricular innovations at a contemporary Pakistani seminary (madrasa)

Summary: Islamic seminaries (madrasas) in Pakistan are educational institutions equivalent to high schools and universities. They admit 14-16 year olds and impart a 7-9 year Islamic education with the intention of creating religious functionaries: mosque leaders (imams), congregational prayer leaders and sermon-givers (khateebs), juris-consults (muftis), etc. Since 9/11, multilateral agencies and the government have pushed for the inclusion of modern education in seminaries, particularly the sciences. The goal of these proposed reforms is to better integrate graduates into mainstream society and the global community, by enabling graduates to have broader career options (beyond serving as religious functionaries in society) and provide them with greater exposure to contemporary advances in the sciences. This research project will compare a Pakistani seminary that adopted curricular reforms (integrating traditional seminary education with modern subjects including the sciences) with a seminary that continues to teach an unreformed curriculum (exclusively focused on traditional. Islamic texts and

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Weekday Worldviews: The Patrons, Promise and Payoff of Psychic Nights in England

Summary: Weekday Worldviews is the first sociological investigation of the relationships between worldviews and psychological wellbeing amongst those attending public psychic events in England. Often hosted in pubs and working men’s clubs on weekday evenings, psychic nights frequently attract women in working-class areas and are quite common, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. Revitalising a tradition made popular in the late 19th century, these mediumistic events see attendees receiving comforting messages from the dead, cometimes accompanied by physical manifestations (e.g., levitating objects). Theatrical mediumship shows have also gained popularity recently, e.g. Séance by theatre company Darkfield. Both types of ‘psychic’ events are billed as entertainment, but they ask audiences to suspend disbelief for the possibility of connection to the spirit world. Although mediums have been studied by psychologists, anthropologists and historians, sociologists have mostly overlooked this socio-cultural phenomenon, while scholars more generally have failed to investigate the motives, markers, and derived

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Conflict, Compatibility, and Crisis: Measuring and Understanding Positions about Religion and Science, and Predicting Attitudes toward Climate Change and COVID-19

Summary: Some people see teachings from religion/spirituality (r/s) as conflicting with science, but others see r/s and science as independent—or even complementary. Prior research on positions about the relationships between r/s and science is limited in several key respects: This work (a) relied mainly on Christian samples from the United States (U.S.), (b) measured positions with few items, which precluded formal tests of reliability and validity, (c) was mostly descriptive rather than informed by theory, and (d) in large part did not examine implications of different positions for social issues. Our central aim is to advance understandings of positions regarding relationships between r/s and science by collecting data from diverse, cross-cultural samples, employing cutting-edge measurement strategies, and using sophisticated quantitative analyses to test hypotheses about how positions relate to other r/s and scientific worldviews as well as attitudes toward global crises. The main research output of this project will be

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“Kosher Science”: Legitimizing National Geographic for Haredi Publics

Summary: We are requesting funding from INSBS to support an innovative study examining how religious groups legitimize science by themselves, and for themselves. Whereas most scholarship on religion and science focuses on perceived theological ‘tensions’ between science and religion, we develop a nuanced and bottom-up understanding of the ways religion and science are negotiated and legitimized in everyday life. As a case study, we examine the pioneering publication of Niflaot (Hebrew: ‘Wonders of the World’), the first ‘kosher’ Haredi magazine, launched in March 2021. Even though Haredi Jews have tended to have an ambivalent stance towards science, COVID-19  has introduced a renewed interest and growing acknowledgement of the importance of science education. To study this watershed moment in Haredi relationality to science, we combine content analysis and interviews with Niflaot’s editorial staff, public relations team and magazine consumers, to capture the ways scientific knowledge is tailored for religious publics. We

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STEM and Belief in UK and USA Higher Education

Summary: US research reveals a significant relationship between university STEM (science, technology, engineering or mathematics) disciplines and the development of students’ religious or spiritual characteristics and interfaith competencies. Yet, in the UK, as university applications for STEM disciplines hit a record high, little research has considered belief diversity (defined as the diversity of religious, spiritual or non-religious traditions, positions or worldviews, including unbelief) in STEM, despite disparities in the number of STEM student applicants from religious backgrounds. To promote meaningful university STEM opportunities for underrepresented belief groups, we must better understand how to foster STEM environments inclusive of belief diversity. This project will achieve this by addressing four research questions: How do UK STEM students’ lived experiences of belief intersect with their identities as scientists? How do UK STEM students’ attitudes and behaviours in relation to belief diversity change during one academic year in comparison to US STEM students? How

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A peaceful coexistence or an inevitable clash? The development of scientific and religious thinking across two cultures

Summary: The relation between science and religion has traditionally been portrayed as a conflict. At the heart of this conflict thesis is the belief that science and religion are two fixed categories of knowledge that are incompatible, and thus an increase in one would necessarily lead to a decrease in the other (Evans, 2018; Harrison, 2015). This belief draws on the assumption that humans strive for logical coherence and consistency, which implies that scientific and religious ways of explaining natural phenomena cannot coexist in the same individual or group. There is growing evidence, however, indicating that this assumption is inaccurate: The same individuals entertain both natural and supernatural considerations that are seemingly contradictory when thinking about natural phenomena such as death, illness, or evolution (Legare et al., 2012). How such coexistence thinking emerges and progresses from childhood to adulthood, however, is largely unknown. To address this significant gap, we will

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Islam, Science and Gender: Negotiating Boundaries in two case studies in Spain and Morocco

Summary: This project aims to explore contemporary processes of negotiation of scientific and religious discourses among Muslim population in two different contexts. More specifically, I aim to conduct a pilot study to identify existing positions and dilemmas on COVID-19 vaccination and infertility treatments among Muslim people living in Barcelona and Tangier. These two cities respond to two distinct geographic realities with a different religious and social context. Following a qualitative methodology, based on semi-structured interviews and ethnographic observation, this project analyses which discourses emerge in these cases and how Muslim people negotiate religious and scientific intersections in the everyday life. The main outputs of the project are the presentation at an international conference and the writing of two scientific articles. The project includes a specific phase of academic diffusion in which the main findings will be presented through these three outputs. First, the main findings of the pilot study will

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