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 […]
Missionary science and social justice in postcolonial India: The evolution of Jesuit science in the Madurai Province, 1952-2019
Aim of the project: This project will study the socio-historical evolution of ‘Jesuit science’ (scientific activity of Catholic missionaries belonging to the Jesuit Order) in India, after India gained freedom from British rule in 1947. Specifically, the project will examine the nexus between scientific research and the social justice mandate of the Jesuits in the […]
“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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
When Science and Belief Coexist or Conflict: The Impact of Scientific Knowledge and Supernatural Beliefs on Concepts of Death in Indonesia
Summary: This research project seeks to answer the broad question: Which cognitive and cultural factors predict when scientific knowledge conflicts or coexists with religious ideas about the afterlife in Indonesia? We seek funding for a small-scale 12-month mixed methods research project in Tana Toraja, Indonesia, on the role of scientific knowledge and supernatural beliefs on […]
Exploring and Mapping STS approaches to Science and Belief
Summary: A strength of the emerging academic field of Social Studies of Science and Belief is its theoretical and methodological diversity. In its current form the field combines approaches from sociology, religious studies, history, psychology, anthropology, and science and technology studies (STS). However, this diversity also means that it can be a challenge for scholars […]
Science of Difference: Producing Racial and Religious Identities Through Nationalist Science, India 1920-2020
Summary: My project ‘Science of Difference: Producing Racial and Religious Identities Through Nationalist Science, India 1920-2020’ interrogates the role of physical anthropology, serology, genetic anthropology and statistics, in naturalizing religious and caste hierarchies. Under colonial rule, Indian scientists rejected the claim that Europeans were racially superior to Indians. However, they did not dismiss race as […]
Promoting Academic Research in Science/Belief Relations in Brazil
Summary: This project comprises two interconnected initiatives which aim to promote quality academic production in science/belief in society, an area with very limited scholarly production in Brazil, especially when it comes to empirical, data-based research. First, a research component that builds on the work accomplished in the seed grant scheme: we will conduct research that […]
African scientists’, religious leaders’ and public perceptions of science and spirituality in the COVID 19 pandemic era.
Summary: The relationship between science and religion, two systems of knowing, has been debated over the decades with conceptual approaches such as conflict, replacement, parallel forms, coexistence, etc. The COVID-19 pandemic has renewed debates about this relationship following the restrictions placed on religion by science and the reaction of religious leaders and followers to the […]
