Is science a carrier of secularization?

1. Is science a carrier of secularization? Sociological Perspectives on Science and Faith Jonathan P. Hill, Calvin College

2. Outline • I. Enlightenment narratives and theories of secularization • II. Empirical research on science and faith • III. The response of the Church?

3. “Belief in supernatural powers is doomed to die out, all over the world, as a result of the increasing adequacy and diffusion of scientific knowledge.” - Anthony Wallace “Much of the weakening of religious certitude in the Christian West can be laid at the door of science” - Steven Weinberg “The conflict between religion and science is inherent and (very nearly) zero-sum. The success of science often comes at the expense of religious dogma; the maintenance of religious dogma always comes at the expense of science…science must destroy religion.” - Sam Harris

4. I.Enlightenment narratives and secularization • The culturally dominant narrative • Origins in the 18th century but takes hold in the 19th century • John William Draper and Andrew Dickson White • Central to the establishment of the social sciences • August Comte’s Law of Three Stages • Theological Stage • Metaphysical Stage • Positive Stage • Max Weber’s disenchantment of society

5. Twentieth Century challenges to the story • The dark side of technological advancement • Frankfurt School Critical Theorists • Historical accounts of scientific progress • Thomas Kuhn’s Structure of Scientific Revolutions • The rise of postmodern suspicion of ”master narratives” • Collapse of “strong foundationalism” in philosophy

6. But the biggest challenge…. • Religion did not go away! • Rise of Islamic fundamentalism • Religious Right • Polish Solidarity • Liberation theology • Spread of Pentecostalism to global south

7. Reformulating secularization • What might we mean we say that society is becoming increasingly secular? • Jose Casanova (1994) • Sphere differentiation • Privatization of religion • Decline in religious belief and practice • Charles Taylor (2007) • The cultural conditions of belief

8. Where does science fit? • Science may sometimes be a secularizing force, but it is complex (Hedley Brooke) • Religion contributed as much (or more) to secularization than science (Gregory) • The rise of the “new” experimental sciences • The conception of a law governed natural world • Viewing religion and science as opposing “natural types” is historically naïve (Harrison)

9. II. Empirical research on science and faith • Question 1: Does the public believe science and faith are in conflict? • Question 2: Are the religious opposed to science? • Question 3: Does exposure to science somehow undermine faith?

10. Public beliefs about science and religion • The most straightforward survey item simply asks: Do you believe science and religion are “often in conflict” or “mostly compatible”?

11. Public beliefs about science and religion • A variation on this, with three categories, produces quite different results: • Do you believe science and religion “generally conflict”, “generally agree”, or “are not related to each other in a meaningful way?

12. Public beliefs about science and religion • Another variation: Please indicate your level of agreement. Science and religion are incompatible.

13. Public beliefs about science and religion • Does science conflict with personal religious beliefs?

14. Public beliefs about science and religion • What is the conflict about? • Human origins is the most common response by far • General conflict less common • Much less frequent: abortion/beginning of life and human sexuality • Who believes there is conflict? • Non-religious

15. Public beliefs about science and religion

16. Public beliefs about science and religion • What is the conflict about? • Human origins is the most common response by far • General conflict less common • Much less frequent: abortion/beginning of life and human sexuality • Who believes there is conflict? • Non-religious • Although more conservative religious positions also believe there is conflict

17. Public beliefs about science and religion • Belief that religion and science are “incompatible” by Bible beliefs

18. Public beliefs about science and religion • What is the conflict about? • Human origins is the most common response by far • General conflict less common • Much less frequent: abortion/beginning of life and human sexuality • Who believes there is conflict? • Non-religious • Although more conservative religious positions also believe there is conflict • Nontheistic evolutionists

19. Public beliefs about science and religion • Believe that science and religion are “often in conflict” by beliefs about human origins

20. Public beliefs about science and religion • What is the conflict about? • Human origins is the most common response by far • “General” conflict less common • Much less frequent: abortion/beginning of life and human sexuality • Who believes there is conflict? • Non-religious • Although more conservative religious positions also believe there is conflict • Nontheistic evolutionists • Those who believe in a sharp distinction between the methods of religion and science

21. Public beliefs about science and religion • Believe that science and religion are ”often in conflict” by agreement with following statement: “Science and religion rely on inherently opposing methods for making claims about the world.  Science relies on observation and logic while religion relies on faith and tradition.”

22. Are the religious opposed to science? • Perception of a “war on science” from industrial, religious, and political interest.

23. Are the religious opposed to science?

24. Are the religious opposed to science? • War on science? • Issues overlap less than most assume.  Different cultural and cognitive drivers.  • Best to think of as “localized battles”, not all out war. • Conservative Protestants are not anti-science, do not have substantially lower interest in science, or lower scientific literacy (Evans 2018; Ecklund & Scheitle 2017) • although some are suspicious of what they view as the secular agenda of scientists

25. Does science undermine faith? • Is science education corrosive to faith?  • Pre-test/post-test studies on evolution education show strong resistance to changing views  • Some find small increases in acceptance of human evolution (Ingram and Nelson 2006; Lawson and Worsnop 1992; Rice, Olson, and Colbert 2011). Others find no effect (Chinsamy and Plaganyi 2007; Bishop andAnderson 1990). • Education has little influence on opposition to evolution once religion is accounted for.

26. Does science undermine faith? • Relationship between education and acceptance of evolution

27. Does science undermine faith? • Percentage of creationists who remain creationists by educational attainment

28. Science and religion as cultural identities • Best to understand science and religion as important components of cultural identities • This is not a battle about “knowledge” but about moral authority (Evans 2018) • “Scientism” and “religionism” are important, but understudied cultural orientations • High levels of scientism AND high levels of religionism are associated with belief in conflict between science and religion

29. III. Response of the Church? • Recognize the reality of “cross-pressured” condition of modern life • Incarnational view of Christian witness requires that we understand the age in which we live • Understand the proper role of naturalism in science • Methodological naturalism need not be a threat to faith • Resist the temptation of culture war • Resist simplistic accounts of faith or science • Nonoverlapping magisterial • Reductionisms

30. THANKS!