Science Not to Blame for Non-Religious Scientists

Scientists are less religious than the general population, a new study shows, but the reason has little to do with their study of science or academic pressures.The findings challenge notions that science is responsible for a lack of faith among researchers, indicating that household upbringing carries the biggest weight in determining religiousness."Our study data do not strongly support the idea that scientists simply drop their religious identities upon professional training, due to an inherent conflict between science and faith, or to institutional pressure to conform," said Elaine Howard Ecklund, a sociologist at the University at Buffalo and co-author of the study."It is important to understand this, because we face religious-scientific controversies over stem-cell research and evolution,” Ecklund said today.Detailed in the latest issue of the journal Social Problems, the study is based on a survey of 1,646 scientists at 21 elite research universities and in-depth interviews with 271 of the scientists. Specifically, the survey contacted researchers specializing in physics, chemistry, biology, sociology, economics, political science, psychology and other fields.Ecklund said nearly 75 percent of the subjects responded, which she said is extremely high for a faculty survey. So why are scientists less religious? The data indicate that being raised in a religious home is the best predictor of how religious someone will be—scientist or member of the general population.
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