Religion and Science in America: Populism versus Elitism (original) (raw)
Related papers
Zygon, 1998
Historian James Gilbert argues that the dialogue between science and religion is an important dynamic in the creation of contemporary American culture. He traces the dialogue not only in the confines of the academic world but also in popular culture. The science-religion dialogue reveals a basic tension between the material and the spiritual that helps define the core of the American psyche: fascination with material progress yet commitment to traditional religious beliefs. Gilbert's cultural narrative traces the dialogue in a unique way because of the attention given to popular renditions of science and religion in evangelical films used by the military, in televised science programs, in science-fiction literature, and at the Seattle World's Fair in 1962. Gilbert suggests that the discussion between science and religion is significant because it is part of the process of creating new cultural structures necessitated by social, scientific, and technological developments. The tensions between religiously informed commonsense science and professional science work to create new cultural forms in a democratic society. Religion and science in dialogue are part of the process of cultural creation. Dogmatism on the part of either scientists or religionists is countered by the democratic process itself.
FROM BELIEF TO UNBELIEF AND BACK TO BELIEF: A RESPONSE TO MICHAEL RUSE
Zygon�, 1994
Historian James Gilbert argues that the dialogue between science and religion is an important dynamic in the creation of contemporary American culture. He traces the dialogue not only in the confines of the academic world but also in popular culture. The science-religion dialogue reveals a basic tension between the material and the spiritual that helps define the core of the American psyche: fascination with material progress yet commitment to traditional religious beliefs. Gilbert's cultural narrative traces the dialogue in a unique way because of the attention given to popular renditions of science and religion in evangelical films used by the military, in televised science programs, in science-fiction literature, and at the Seattle World's Fair in 1962. Gilbert suggests that the discussion between science and religion is significant because it is part of the process of creating new cultural structures necessitated by social, scientific, and technological developments. The tensions between religiously informed commonsense science and professional science work to create new cultural forms in a democratic society. Religion and science in dialogue are part of the process of cultural creation. Dogmatism on the part of either scientists or religionists is countered by the democratic process itself.
Religion and Science in America
Many people assume that the history of religion and science in America is one of conflict. However, this is not the case. While an examination of the relationship between religion and science in America shows a variety of ways that they have related, there are few cases of outright conflict. This article takes a historical approach to the topic of religion and science in America. It looks to how both Native Americans and colonial-era Americans fused religion and science into a single system, the reasons that this approach began to falter during the early republic and antebellum era, and the twentieth-century repercussions. It treats the history of natural theology, natural philosophy, Baconian science, fundamentalism, and the post-Einstein “new physics” of relativity and quantum science. Special attention is paid the famous Scopes Trial, as well as the contemporary Intelligent Design movement.
Religion and Science at the Turn of the Century
2008
North Americans live in a place and at a time when the practice of religion seems to be making a comeback. Even though Western Civilization has long embraced a secular approach to daily life, banishing religion to the private realms of personal morality, spiritual devotion, and ecclesiastical ritual, many orthodox Christians, Jews, and Muslims continue to assert the public relevance of their faith. This is obviously true in politics, where a number of moral agendas are being pursued, but religious concerns have also been broached in other areas, such as biotechnology research, energy use, and environmental care.
Science and Religion Dialogue: Insights from Public Understanding of Science
"‘Science and religion dialogue’ is gaining much more attention in the contemporary world, especially after the emergence of it as an academic field within theology in the 1960s. The field itself is anchored on the conviction that there are possibilities for mutual cooperation and engagement between science and religion. The literature developed on science-religion dialogue shows that the methodologies in the field are profoundly dependent on Christian theology, religious philosophy and the philosophy of science, along with the recent endeavors to incorporate insights from the feminist and post colonial studies of science. However, it seems that so far no attempt has been made to introduce ‘Sociology of Scientific Knowledge’ (SSK) into the field of science and religion dialogue as a valid source of methodological insights about the process of knowledge production in modern science. The intention of this paper is to demonstrate that ‘Public Understanding of Science’ (PUS), an area of research that comes under Sociology of Scientific Knowledge, can be of immense contribution to the dialogue between science and religion."
Public Perceptions of Incompatibility between ''Science and Religion''
Narratives of conflict regarding the connections between science and religion receive considerable attention in multiple forums of public discourse. These discussions tend to focus on philosophical, abstract, and/or polemical, rather than empirical issues. Data from a 2007 national survey indicate that a relatively small proportion of American adults perceive incompatibility between science and religion. Those who do are divided evenly into groups privileging science and privileging religion. These groups are markedly different with regard to sociodemographic and religious characteristics. Overall, I advocate a theoretical perspective on "science and religion" that is culturally constructionist, but methodologically empiricist.