Emerging Scholars Blog

InterVarsity's Emerging Scholars Network

elaine howard ecklund

Can Scientists Talk About Religion?

Last month, I blogged about the religious discrimination lawsuit filed by astronomer Martin Gaskell against the University of Kentucky. I included a quote from Elaine Howard Ecklund’s book Science vs. Religion: What Scientists Really Think about the degree to which religious scientists feel they can be open about their faith and beliefs. Now, I want to return to Ecklund’s book and discuss one of her conclusions that I have found very insightful: nonreligious scientists have an extremely limited language for discussing religious beliefs.

(BTW, the Lexington Herald-Leader has an update on Gaskell’s case. There haven’t been too many developments in the past month, but the article includes a disturbing statement from the AAUP suggesting that religious beliefs can be an issue of “disciplinary competency” in science. Yipes. I hope religious scientists who are members of AAUP will contact them to set them straight.)

In her survey of elite academic scientists, Ecklund found that nonreligious scientists have limited ability to discuss religious beliefs. She draws on sociologist Basil Bernstein’s concept of “language codes” to suggest that many scientists never progress beyond stereotypes and false assumptions about religion: [Read more…] about Can Scientists Talk About Religion?

How open should you be about your faith?

I was all prepared to write a post about astronomer Martin Gaskell’s lawsuit against the University of Kentucky, but Jesus Creed blogger RJS (a scientist at a major research university) beat me to the punch and stole many of my points. Here’s a quick summary of Gaskell’s case (which is still pending). According to news reports:

  • Gaskell was a leading candidate for a new position in UK’s Department of Physics and Astronomy as a director for a public observatory. Gaskell had held a similar position at the University of Nebraska and received high marks for his professional work.
  • During the interview process, UK faculty began raising questions about Gaskell’s religious beliefs and his beliefs about evolution and cosmology. These questions were triggered after a faculty member found Gaskell’s personal website and notes from a lecture Gaskell has given several times called Modern Astronomy, the Bible, and Creation.
  • Gaskell was not hired by UK, and his lawsuit alleges religious discrimination.

You can also read the AP story, the lawsuit itself (PDF), and a blog post from the Chronicle.

This lawsuit is unusual in a couple of regards. First, it exists. While there have been a couple of other high profile cases in which scientists claim religious discrimination, almost none of them have resulted in a lawsuit. Second, it’s going forward – UK asked for it to be dismissed in November, and a judge rejected that motion. Third, there appears to be a clear paper trail (or email trail, if you please) that reveals internal discussions at UK about Gaskell’s religious beliefs. Gaskell also alleges that the physics department consulted members of the biology department about his religious beliefs, which seems highly irregular to me. Also, if you read the lawsuit, the catalyst for legal action was an equal opportunity complaint filed by a current UK employee who had concerns about this situation. I wonder if that person’s identify will be revealed at some point and what kind of fallout there will be for them.

Like I said, RJS has raised a number of good points already. Instead, I want to ask the question:

How open should you be about your faith? [Read more…] about How open should you be about your faith?

Are “agnostic” scientists really agnostic?

Sun Over Earth (NASA, International Space Station Science, 11/22/09)
The rising sun, seen from the International Space Station

Last week, I became engaged in a rather lengthy online conversation about the religious faith of university scientists. It was prompted by this GetReligion post about Francis Collins. In my comments, I cited Rice sociologist Elaine Howard Ecklund’s recent book Science vs. Religion: What Scientists Really Think, as well as her online article “Religion and Spirituality among University Scientists” (PDF). Ecklund’s research examines the religious beliefs and practices of university scientists, with some important findings – such as a much higher rate of religiosity than usually assumed.

Another commenter, though, noted a strange statistic: the number of scientists who consider themselves religious and/or spiritual actually outnumbers the number who say they believe in God. About half (48%) of scientists say they belong to a religious tradition, and 66% consider themselves to be a “spiritual person.” Yet more than half gave classic atheist or agnostic responses when asked whether God exists.

When asked their beliefs about God, nearly 34 percent of academic scientists answer “I do not believe in God” and about 30 percent answer “I do not know if there is a God and there is no way to find out,” the classic agnostic response. This means that over 60 percent of professors in these natural and social science disciplines describe themselves as either atheist or religiously agnostic. In comparison, among those in the general U.S. population, about 3 percent claim to be atheists and about 5 percent are religiously agnostic. (Ecklund, “Religion and Spirituality”)

What are we to make of this apparent contradiction? While I was jogging on Saturday, a thought occurred to me: What if this “agnostic” response is actually an expression of the scientists’ refined understanding of knowledge according to naturalism and the scientific method?

My reasoning is after the jump.  [Read more…] about Are “agnostic” scientists really agnostic?

Week in Review: Future of Evangelicals Edition

What are you reading, watching, thinking about this week? As usual, here’s a few which have been on our mind. Let us know your thoughts on any/all of them. If you have items you’d like us to consider for the top five, add them in the comments or send them to Tom or Mike.

The future is almost here!

1.  The Future of Evangelicals in Academia. Who else to address this question than Mark Noll, historian and author of The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind. Lots of good material in this interview, including some of his impressions of James Davison Hunter’s To Change The World and Andy Crouch’s review of the book.   Note:  If you have thoughts to share regarding the ideas in Hunter’s book, then please comment at Micheal Hickerson’s ESN blog post Changing the World with James Davison Hunter.

The last question of the interview is “What are some of the most encouraging trends you see today in evangelical intellectual circles, be they projects or institutions or ministries?” He mentions several projects, institutions, and ministries including InterVarsity’s Graduate and Faculty Ministry. Thank-you for the encouragement. To God be the glory!

2. Philosophy and Faith (Gary Gutting. NY Times Opinion. 9/1/2010.)  Interested in studying philosophy at Notre Dame or tracking with some of the discussion which occurs on campus (and on-line) regarding material such as  Alvin Plantinga’s modal-logic formulation of St. Anselm’s ontological argument or William Rowe’s complex version of a probabilistic argument from evil, then visit this NY Times Opinion piece.

3.  Keeping up with the Amish? Amish expanding westward, study says (MSNBC, 7/28/2010).   Thank-you to Donald Kraybill for his focused research, for more visit Elizabethtown College Amish Studies. [Read more…] about Week in Review: Future of Evangelicals Edition