Templeton Religion Trust
What if we can prove there is no clash between religious belief and evolutionary science?
How would that affect religious stereotypes and prejudice?
The clash narrative between evolution and religion makes life difficult for people with religious beliefs who want to have a career in science. They’ve been put in a box that makes them less likely to be taken seriously by their colleagues and peers. The clash narrative means their religious beliefs are seen as an impediment to rational thought and committed scientific enquiry.
That’s not the only problem with these clashes.
These narratives can be co-opted into broader social conflicts to suit various political agendas. For example, the clash narrative of evolution versus religion can be used to further the idea that scientific enquiry automatically leads to the secularization of society. It also adds weight to the radical secular narrative that pitches all religion as a threat to modern liberal values. And we all know the harm these polarizations are doing to the world.
Before this project there was little empirical evidence to either support or contradict this deeply embedded clash narrative. Grantee Fern Elsdon-Baker and her team decided to address this factual vacuum conducting extensive qualitative and quantitative research, historical and media analysis, and social and experimental psychology in the UK, Canada, Argentina, Australia, Germany, Spain, Sri Lanka and the US, and it revealed the truth about the boxes we put ourselves in.
The results were illuminating. The clash narrative between evolution and religion is, in part, a cultural myth with little basis in the reality of our day to day lives. The research team learned that the positions we take are more to do with social identities than actual doctrinal differences.
Some non-believers unthinkingly adopt evolutionary science as part of their atheist identity. And some with religious beliefs reject evolutionary science because they see it as an atheist idea that conflicts with their religious identity. The truth is most people with religious or spiritual beliefs accept the idea of evolutionary science. In fact, far more people expect religious believers to have issues with evolutionary science than the number of people who actually do. This latest research also suggests that if someone does reject some aspects of evolutionary science, it does not equate to a rejection of science in general.
Overall, the research paints a much more nuanced picture than the extreme polarity of a clash narrative. The research suggests that people can exist in all different sorts of boxes and the science versus religion clash narrative is doing a disservice to everyone. It’s doing a disservice to religious people who embrace scientific thinking and who have faced unfair and unjustified discrimination within the scientific community that has harmed their careers and lives. And science is also suffering as a large proportion of the world’s population feel deterred from engaging with it.
These findings provide verifiable evidence to refute stereotypes and counter prejudice and is already creating a more enlightened attitude between science and religion. Elsdon-Baker and her team have also spawned an international research network that is now studying science, religion, belief in society, and culture in a much broader and deeper way than the scope of the original project. These learnings can also be more broadly applied to the polarization and clash narratives existing in culture and politics. This work can influence and shape the sort of society we wish to live in.
“Instead of a world riven with division and hatred, we can live in one where we respect the nuances of our beliefs and disagree agreeably.”
