Blog Posts Archives : Page 3 of 5 : International Research Network for the Study of Science & Belief in Society

20th July 2021

All the Light Here Comes from Above: Edward Hitchcock, Man of Science, Man of Faith

by Robert T. McMaster Image from William S. Tyler, History of Amherst College During its First Half Century 1821 to 1871 (Springfield, Mass.: Clark W. Bryan and Company, 1873). Edward Hitchcock (1793-1864) was not the only star in the firmament of American science in the nineteenth century, but he was certainly one of the brightest. Raised among the wheat and rye fields of Deerfield, Massachusetts, he was expected to…

23rd February 2021

Science and Social Stereotypes

***This blog post originally appeared on the University of Birmingham website, 10 February 2021, and is reproduced here with the kind permission of the University of Birmingham.*** 11 February was the United Nations International Day of Women and Girls in Science. To mark the occasion network members Carissa Sharp and Stephen Jones explore…

15th February 2021

How to Build an Academic Network

By Stephen H. Jones and Paula Brikci On 5th February, the International Research Network for the Study of Science and Belief in Society launched a call for grants to support the development of regional academic networks. In this blog, drawing on the insights of scholars from across the field, Stephen H. Jones and Paula Brikci look at what makes a good academic network and what anyone thinking of establishing…

15th December 2020

Crusading for Moral Authority: Christian Nationalism and Opposition to Science in the United States

By Joseph O. Baker, Samuel L. Perry and Andrew L. Whitehead “Culture in Crisis” wall at the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky On August 30 2020, Los Angeles megachurch pastor John MacArthur told his congregation “There is no pandemic.” Grace Community Church was meeting in defiance of local and state ordinances against large in-person gatherings. After citing a common misinterpretation of data about COVID-19 from the…

17th November 2020

Half of College Biology Students in the United States Think Evolution is Atheistic

by Liz Barnes Photo by Eugene Zhyvchik on Unsplash Does someone have to be an atheist to accept evolution? According to the philosophy of science and many science educators the answer is no. However, my recent study has revealed that over half of college biology students in the United States think that in order to accept evolution fully, they would have to be an atheist. This is…

27th October 2020

The Secret Social Lives of Science

By Stephen H. Jones On a rain-soaked day, thousands marched on Washington DC to fight for science funding and scientific analysis in politics Read enough science journalism and eventually you will become familiar with two tropes that seem to contradict one another. On the one hand, journalists will often write about ‘science’ as though it is an unquestioned authority, with the more opportunistic members of the profession using the…

29th September 2020

Evolution as a Trojan Horse

By Bernard Lightman The Trojan Horse by Hendrik Willem Van Loon, in the Story of Mankind (Public Domain) With the benefit of hindsight, we can now see that over the course of the past 150 years a remarkable reversal has taken place. Whereas once the investigation of nature had derived status from its intimate connections with the more elevated disciplines of ethics and theology, increasingly…

15th September 2020

New Pew Report on the Intersection of Science and Religion in Southeast Asia

By James Riley “Buddhist temple detail Singapore #dailyshoot” by Leshaines123 is licensed with CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit. Pew Research Center recently released a new report exploring the intersections of science and religion, based on new data from interviews with Hindus, Muslims, and Buddhists in Malaysia and Singapore. The report’s authors said:…

4th August 2020

The Pope is looking to scientists to find a cure for coronavirus – but so are Ricky Gervais and Richard Dawkins

By Alper Bilgili A cartoon, widely circulated on social media, depicts clergy of various religions in despair, begging a scientist to find a cure for COVID-19. In another, clergy are staring at a picture of a nurse who asks for silence with a “SHHH” sign. Those who share these cartoons seem certain that the ensuing pandemic once again proves the superiority of natural sciences over other forms of knowledge.

14th July 2020

How Does the Science-Religion Conflict Narrative Affect Christians?

By Kimberley Rios This article was originally published on the Heterodox Blog and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution, Non-Commercial, No-Derivatives 4.0 International License. Just a few weeks ago, a blog post appeared in my social media news feed titled “Why your Christian friends and family members are so easily fooled by conspiracy theories.” The post caught my…

30th June 2020

The ‘Scientific Interpretation’ of the Bible and the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom

By James C. Ungureanu In his Autobiography, Charles Darwin (1809-1882) gave three specific reasons for his growing religious doubts. He became morally revolted by the God of the Old Testament, whom he characterised as a “revengeful tyrant.” Moreover, the discovery of the “fixed laws of nature” made belief in miracles seem “incredible” to him. Finally, he concluded that recent historical-critical scholarship—or biblical criticism—demonstrated that the Gospels were completely…

16th June 2020

Enseñando evolución en México: ¿llevando el creacionismo al salón de clase?

Por Juan Manuel Rodriguez-Caso UNAM Central Library, south wall, seen from the esplanade of the rectory. Source: José Miguel García Fernández, Wikimedia Commons (CC Attribution Share Alike 4.0 International license) Cuando se discuten los problemas relacionados con la enseñanza de la evolución en el aula, y los conflictos que diversas formas de creacionismo surgen, en particular el creacionismo científico y el “diseño inteligente”, el país…

16th June 2020

Teaching evolution in Mexico: bringing creationism to the classroom?

By Juan Manuel Rodriguez-Caso UNAM Central Library, south wall, seen from the esplanade of the rectory. Source: José Miguel García Fernández, Wikimedia Commons (CC Attribution Share Alike 4.0 International license) When problems related to the teaching of evolution in the classroom, and the conflicts arising from various forms of creationism – particularly scientific creationism and “intelligent design” – are discussed, the country which may…

2nd June 2020

نظرة موجزة على تاريخ النقاش حول وجود الحياة خارج كوكب الأرض

بقلم بارانديس تاجبخش مطبوعة حجرية لـ “مدرج الياقوت” للخدعة ، كما طُبعت في The Sun. المصدر: ويكيميديا كومنز (المجال العام). في عام 2018، بدأ القمر الصناعي لمسح الكواكب الخارجية العابرة مهمته التي تستغرق عامين للبحث عن الكواكب خارج المجموعة الشمسية، والتي تدور حول حوالي 200,000 نجم تقع على بعد 300 سنة ضوئية من الأرض. وكان القمر الصناعي لمسح الكواكب الخارجية العابرة قد تبع خطى تليسكوب كبلير الفضائي التابع لوكالة ناسا،…

2nd June 2020

Una breve ojeada a la historia del debate sobre la vida extraterrestre

Por Parandis Tajbakhsh Una litografía del “anfiteatro de rubíes” del engaño, como se imprimió en The Sun. Fuente: Wikimedia Commons (dominio público). En 2018, el Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS por sus siglas en inglés) comenzó su misión de dos años de búsqueda de planetas extrasolares, orbitando alrededor de 200.000 estrellas ubicadas dentro de un radio de 300 años luz de la Tierra. TESS siguió los pasos del Telescopio Espacial…

2nd June 2020

Краткий взгляд на историю дебатов о внеземной жизни

Парандис Таджбахш Литография “рубинового амфитеатра” мистификации, напечатанная в The Sun. Источник: Wikimedia Commons (общественное достояние). В 2018 году спутник Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) начал свою двухлетнюю миссию в поисках планет вне Солнечной системы, вращающихся вокруг 200 000 звёзд, расположенных в пределах 300 световых лет от Земли. TESS последовал по стопам космического телескопа НАСА «Кеплер», запущенного в 2009 году для поиска планет размером с Землю или меньших вокруг других звёзд…

2nd June 2020

Aperçu de l’histoire du débat sur la vie extraterrestre

Par Parandis Tajbakhsh Une lithographie de «l’amphithéâtre rubis» du canular, telle qu’elle est imprimée dans The Sun. Source: Wikimedia Commons (domaine public). En 2018, le Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (Satellite de recensement des exoplanètes en transit) (TESS) a lancé sa mission de deux ans consacrée à la recherche de planètes extrasolaires, gravitant autour de 200 000 étoiles situées dans un rayon de 300 années-lumière de la Terre. TESS a succédé au télescope spatial…

2nd June 2020

A Brief Look at the History of Extraterrestrial Life Debate

By Parandis Tajbakhsh A lithograph of the hoax's "ruby amphitheater", as printed in The Sun. Source: Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain). In 2018, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) began its two-year mission searching for extrasolar planets, orbiting around 200,000 stars located within 300 light-years of the Earth. TESS followed in the footsteps of NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope, launched in 2009to find Earth-sized or smaller planets around…

19th May 2020

Los otros cristianos: La ciencia y el cristianismo ortodoxo

Por Kostas Tampakis La Ciencia y la Religión, como campo de estudio, está floreciendo. Esta es una evaluación fácil de hacer, si se considera el número de conferencias, artículos, libros y revistas especializadas que operan dentro de los amplios límites del campo. Una señal más sutil del crecimiento del campo podemos encontrarla en las disciplinas que los estudiosos de la Ciencia y la Religión han traído al campo en los…

19th May 2020

المسيحيون الآخرون: العلم والمسيحية الأرثوذكسية

بقلم كوستاس تامباكيس العلم والدين، كمجال للدراسة، يزدهران. هذا تقييم سهل، إذا نظر المرء في عدد المؤتمرات والمقالات والكتب والمجلات المتخصصة التي تعمل داخل الحدود الواسعة للمجال يمكن العثور على علامة أكثر دقة لنمو هذا الحقل من العلوم في التخصصات التي أدخلها علماء العلوم والدين في هذا المجال في السنوات الأخيرة. كما أظهر مؤتمر شبكة البحث الدولية لدراسة العلوم والمعتقدات في المجتمعات العام الماضي في برمنغهام (…