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Research

Intersections between religion and science

Courtney Johnson, Cary Lynne Thigpen & Cary Funk

Research Summary

“Over the centuries, the relationship between science and religion has ranged from conflict and hostility to harmony and collaboration, while various thinkers have argued that the two concepts are inherently at odds and entirely separate. But much recent research and discussion on these issues has taken place in a Western context, primarily through a Christian lens. To better understand the ways in which science relates to religion around the world, Pew Research Center engaged a small group of Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists to talk about their perspectives. These one-on-one, in-depth interviews took place in Malaysia and Singapore – two Southeast Asian nations that have made sizable investments in scientific research and development in recent years and that are home to religiously diverse populations.”

Researchers

Courtney Johnson, Cary Lynne Thigpen & Cary Funk

Research Institution

Pew Research Center, Washington DC

What is this about?

  • What is the relationship between religion and science – or, more precisely, what are some of the relationships between religion and science?
  • What do Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists think about how religion and science relate to one another?
  • How are these questions answered within the particular contexts of Malaysia and Singapore, where investment in scientific research and religious diversity are both high?

What was done?

72 individual interviews with Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists were conducted in Malaysia and Singapore between June 17, 2019 and August 8, 2019. This included 24 people in each of the three religious groups, with an equal number in each country. All interviewees said their religion was “very” or “somewhat” important to their lives, but they varied in terms of age, gender, profession and education level.

Main findings and outputs

  • There is no single, universally held view of the relationship between science and religion.
  • But there are some common patterns and themes within each of the three religious groups.
  • Many Muslims expressed the view that Islam and science are basically compatible, acknowledging some differences – such as the theory of evolution conflicting with religious beliefs about the origins and development of human life on Earth.
  • Hindus tended to differ from Muslims, describing science and religion as overlapping spheres. As with Muslims, many Hindus maintained that their religion contains elements of science, and that Hinduism long ago identified concepts that were later illuminated by science; many Hindus said that the theory of evolution is encompassed in their religious teachings.
  • Buddhists generally described religion and science as two separate spheres. Several talked about their religion as offering guidance on how to live a moral life, while describing science as observable phenomena. Often, they named no areas of scientific research that concerned them for religious reasons. Nor did Buddhists see the theory of evolution as conflicting with their religion.

Relevance to RE

  • The data can be used as resources in religion and science topics. The article whose headlines are reported here needs to be viewed in full – it’s detailed, beautifully illustrated and contains much of potential classroom use, e.g. illustrative quotations and statistical tables.
  • The interview respondents express personal worldviews. Their words show how their organised worldview membership (Islam, Hinduism or Buddhism) combines with other elements (influence from or attitude towards science). In this way, the material from the article can be used for Religion and Worldviews teaching. It helps to show what Religion and Worldviews teaching could look like.

Generalisability and potential limitations

The researchers recognise the limits of a series of interviews with individuals, and therefore don’t claim that the individuals represent the traditions. Again, however, see the full article. What they do to address the problem is include statistics from other Pew Center global surveys, so you can check the individual accounts with the bigger picture. Overall, it’s an excellent resource.

Find out more

On the Intersection of Science and Religion, Pew Research Center, published August 2020 (see link for open access below)

https://www.pewforum.org/essay/on-the-intersection-of-science-and-religion/

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