Given popular portrayals, you would be forgiven for assuming that the type of person who is a scientist is not the type of person who would be religious. Consider the popular television show “The Big Bang Theory,” which is about friends who almost all have advanced degrees in physics, biology or neuroscience. The main character, Sheldon – a physicist who often rejects religion – is juxtaposed with his devout Christian mother, who is uninterested in and ignorant of science.
Such stereotypes reinforce the idea that religion and science are not only different from each other, but also locked in a battle with each other. Yet social scientists have found that most of the American public does not really view religion and science as in conflict. When religion seems to reduce individuals’ acceptance of scientific ideas, it is usually not because of the facts themselves. Rather, the objections of religious individuals are often based on the moral implications of that research, or on the perceived role of scientists in policymaking.
And many scientists are religious, undermining assumptions that faith and science are inherently in conflict. Take Francis Collins, the former director of the National Institutes of Health, who is open about his Christian beliefs.
On the other hand, religious people face challenges when working in science. These challenges have little to do with internal struggles over stereotypical issues such as the origins of human life. Instead, religious scholars are more likely to report hostility from their peers and a professional culture that poses challenges to other life goals, such as starting a family.
I came to this conclusion after surveying more than 1,300 American students in biology, chemistry, physics, psychology and sociology – one of many sociological studies I have done to understand the social dynamics of religion and science. The findings from this research are presented in a book I published in October 2023, “The Faithful Scientist: Experiences of Anti-Religious Bias in Scientific Training.”
Supposed atheism
According to my research, 22% of science graduate students say they believe in God and 20% describe themselves as “very” or “moderately” religious. These percentages are similar to what we see among science faculty, but much less than what we see among the general American public. According to surveys from the Pew Research Center, about half of Americans say they believe in “God as described in the Bible,” while another third believe in some kind of higher power. Gallup found that three in four Americans say religion is very or somewhat important in their lives.
The relatively nonreligious composition of their peers and faculty can pose challenges for religious graduate students. Many of the religious students I spoke with described a culture that assumed everyone in a lab or classroom was an atheist and allowed comments that were openly hostile to religion or religious people. A Christian graduate biology student told me, “I was actually quite shocked when I started graduate school…by the lack of respect from my fellow students and professors. I still feel like I have to hide that part of my life. … I don’t feel ready to open up.”
Indeed, about two-thirds of students who identified as very religious or moderately religious agreed with the statement that “people in my field have negative attitudes toward religion,” according to a survey I created and researched in my book . About 40% of those students also agreed that they “hide or camouflage” their views or identity around people in their program.
Family and career
Religious graduate students in the natural sciences also face more subtle cultural conflicts.
The social sciences have highlighted the many challenges that academic scientists face in establishing and maintaining their family lives. First, graduate school and pre-tenure positions are demanding, causing many academic scientists to delay having children and have fewer children than they would have liked.
The highly competitive nature of academic jobs also means that scientists rarely have much say in where they live, making it difficult to rely on the support of grandparents and other relatives when raising a family. All of these dynamics become even more difficult when a scientist collaborates with another scientist – what is often called the “two-body problem.”
These challenges are especially salient for religious graduate students. Many scientific studies have shown that religion influences the attitudes and behaviors of individuals when it comes to issues such as how many children they would like to have.
Indeed, my book’s survey found that 23% of science graduate students who identify as very religious already have at least one child. This compares with 12% among the moderately religious, 7% among the mildly religious and 6% among those who say they are not religious. More religious students also reported wanting to have more children in the future.
These patterns have implications for career paths. My survey asked respondents to rate the importance of career, partnership and parenting on a four-point scale. On average, religious students did not attach less importance to their career than their less religious peers, but they did attach more importance to their family life. This importance placed on family is in turn associated with a lower intention to pursue research-oriented tenure track positions. All else being equal, students who say family goals are “very important” to them are 12% less likely to say they plan to pursue such a position, compared to students who say such family goals are “very important” to them. not important” to them.
Benefits of religious diversity
Many people may brush aside these challenges because religion is not typically part of the conversation about supporting and increasing diversity in science.
But at the very least, making derogatory comments or showing other forms of hostility toward an individual’s religion — as many of my respondents said they experienced — could violate anti-discrimination and harassment laws.
Moreover, the dimensions of diversity are not separate from each other. The data collected for my book shows that female and black graduate students in the natural sciences are significantly more likely to identify as religious than male and white students. For example, twenty-three percent of black students I surveyed identify as “very religious,” compared to 7.3% of white students. Ignoring religion as a dimension of diversity has the potential to undermine efforts to support other forms of diversity in science.
I would argue that religious diversity could also bring other benefits to the scientific community. Given the increased salience of work-life issues among religious scientists, these individuals could be important agents in changing norms and policies that improve work-life balance for all scientists.
Likewise, religious scientists could also serve as ambassadors, or what sociologist Elaine Howard Ecklund calls “bridge builders,” between scientific and religious communities.
In the short term, graduate programs in science might consider how they approach and talk about religion, keeping in mind that about 1 in 5 of their students are likely to be religious.
This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit organization providing facts and analysis to help you understand our complex world.
It was written by: Christopher P. Scheitle, University of West Virginia.
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The research presented in this article was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (Award #1749130, Christopher P. Scheitle, principal investigator).
