More Light | Books and Culture

by | Aug 26, 2013 | Individual.Elements.Commons.Arenas.Workplace, Sectors.SciTech

Via Books and Culture:

In contrast to the idea that all scientists are non-religious, she reveals a substantial rate of self-declared religious affiliation. Almost half, or 47 percent, declare some kind of faith commitment, far more than a conflict paradigm might suggest, though far fewer than those in the U.S. population as a whole. Her most significant finding is how profoundly the distribution of religious preferences among elite scientists differs from the general population. In addition to the non-religious being overrepresented, Jewish scholars are also found in high numbers (making up 16 percent of élite scientists). Although those of other religions (7 percent) and mainline Protestants (14 percent) are represented at rates similar to the general population, other Christians are strikingly underrepresented. This includes Catholics (9 percent of élite scientists), evangelicals (2 percent), and black Protestants (0.2 percent); although only a small minority in élite institutions, these three groups make up almost two-thirds of the U.S. population.

More Light | Books and Culture

Points:

  • “…élite scientists are vitally interested in questions of meaning at the same time that a significant majority do not hold traditional religious beliefs.”
  • “This pursuit of nontraditional spirituality is accompanied by a remarkable ignorance about most religious traditions…Rather than recognizing the diversity of religious views that exist even within Protestant Christianity, many scientists stereotype all religious people as ‘fundamentalists’ and have a caricatured understanding of what that means.”
  • “A little over a third (36 percent) think that religion has no positive role on campus.”
  • “…scientists who are also people of faith have a special responsibility to overcome the first set of myths by offering their stories as scientist-believers to their nonscientist fellow believers, while non-believing lite scientists must actively seek to ameliorate their “religious illiteracy” and find ways to respectfully interact with religion in the classroom and on campus.”