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 a large-scale, cross-cultural study of participants including subsamples from the United States, Australia, China, and Pakistan (n = 500 from each country). We will use a more comprehensive assessment battery of positions regarding r/s and science that allows for complexity in the structure of positions and attitudes toward science and r/s, and we will test a conceptual model situating positions in relation to a constellation of worldviews, such as r/s fundamentalism, literal vs. metaphorical readings of r/s texts, and other views of science and r/s. We will examine how different positions predict attitudes toward climate change and COVID-19, focusing on causal attributions (e.g., attributions to supernatural and/or natural entities) and behavioral intentions regarding scientific solutions for each crisis (e.g., conservation behaviors, vaccines). We will leverage funds from another grant to multiply opportunities for data collection. Written outputs will include novel scales measuring positions about the relationships between r/s and science, manuscripts published in top-tier academic journals, conference presentations, and press releases.

The primary outcomes of this project will be high-impact publications advancing the conceptual and empirical understanding of different positions about the relationships between science and r/s, as well as how those positions are interwoven into r/s and scientific worldviews and predict psychological involvement with current crises. These outcomes will increase research and public attention to our areas of study, nationally and internationally, and set the stage for cross-cultural collaborations. Thus, the empirical study of meaning-making around science and r/s will move incrementally closer to becoming a global enterprise.