Science, Belief and Society

"The contributors to this book enumerate some of the issues with current approaches in science, belief and society studies, recognising that question-wording, popular but unfounded assumptions, culture, context and types of religious and non-religious views can all influence the public’s understanding of science with direct effects on the success of science communication activities... The book is highly recommended for cross-cultural studies of public understanding of science...’ PubIic Understanding of Science

"This timely and rich volume engages sociological considerations of science and belief and extends our understanding of how different groups across the world reconcile or reject diverse aspects of these two ways of knowing." Shiri Noy, Denison University

Stephen H. Jones is a Lecturer at the University of Birmingham and serves as current General Secretary of the Muslims in Britain Research Network (MBRN). He specialises in contemporary Muslim communities and public perceptions of science and religion and has published widely on these themes.

Rebecca Catto is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Kent State University, USA. She is interested in secular-religious interactions in Britain and North America. Rebecca has published widely on atheism, Christian mission, youth and religion, state-religion relations, and science and religion.

Tom Kaden is Academic Council at the Institute of Sociology at the University of Bayreuth, where he is working on a general sociology of conflict. Previously he worked as a Research Associate at York University in Toronto, Canada, where he explored the relationship between religion and science for Canadian life scientists and members of the public.

Foreword ~ Grace Davie

Editor’s Introduction: Science, Belief and the Sociological Tradition ~ Stephen H. Jones, Tom Kaden and Rebecca Catto

Part I: Methodological Challenges in the Study of Science and Belief

The Sociological Study of Science and Religion in Context ~ Fern Elsdon-Baker and Will Mason-Wilkes

Survey-based Research on Science and Religion: A Review and Critique ~ Jonathan P. Hill

Language, Labels and Lived Identity in Debates about Science, Religion and Belief ~ Tom Kaden, Stephen H. Jones and Rebecca Catto

Researching Clergy Attitudes towards Science: A Reflective Account of Key Methodological Challenges ~ Lydia Reid

PART II: Belief in the Study of Science and Technology

From ‘Science and Religion’ to ‘Transcendence in Science’, or: What We Can Learn from the (History of) Science and Technology Studies ~ Silke Gülker

Rational Believers: Religion, Tradition and Spirituality among Indian Scientists ~ Renny Thomas

Muslim Perceptions of Biological Evolution: A Critical Review of Quantitative and Qualitative Research ~ Jessica Carlisle, Salman Hameed and Fern Elsdon-Baker

PART III: Science, Culture and Non-religion

Feeling Rational: Affinity and Affinity Narratives in British Science–Non-religion Relations ~ Lois Lee

Avoiding the ‘Anti-intellectual Abyss’: How Secular Humanists in Sweden try to Define the Boundaries between Science, Religion, Pseudoscience and Postmodernism ~ Susanne Kind

Atheism and the Social Sciences ~ Stephen LeDrew

PART IV: Religion, Conflict and Moderation

Science and the Unearned Virtues of the ‘Really Religious People’: Exploring the Association between Perceived Religiosity and Science Rejection among Students in the Midwestern United States ~ David E. Long

Discourses on Science and Islam: A View from Britain ~ Amy Unsworth

Conclusion: Future Directions in the Sociological Study of Science and Belief ~ Stephen H. Jones, Rebecca Catto and Tom Kaden