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 Topic: What Scientists Really Think About Religion

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  • What Scientists Really Think About Religion
     OP - May 31, 2010, 10:38 AM
    What Scientists Really Think About Religion   (http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=10/05/29/178208)

    Hugh Pickens writes
    "The Washington Post has a book review of Science and Religion: What Scientists Really Think by Rice University sociologist Elaine Ecklund, who spent four years doing a detailed survey of 1,646 scientists at elite American research universities. The study reveals that scientists often practice a closeted faith, worrying about how their peers would react to learning about their religious views. 'After four years of research, at least one thing became

    clear: Much of what we believe about the faith lives of elite scientists is wrong. The '"insurmountable hostility" between science and religion is a caricature, a thought-cliche, perhaps useful as a satire on groupthink, but hardly representative of reality,' writes Ecklund. Unsurprisingly,

    Ecklund found that 64% of scientists are either atheists (34%) or agnostic (30%). But only five of the 275 in-depth interviewees actively oppose religion; and even among the third who are atheists, many consider themselves 'spiritual.' 'According to the scientists I interviewed, the academy seems to have a "strong culture" that suppresses discussion about religion in many areas,' says Ecklund. 'To remove the perceived stigma, we would need to have more scientists talking openly about issues of religion, where such issues are particularly relevant to their discipline.'"
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  • Re: What Scientists Really Think About Religion
     Reply #1 - May 31, 2010, 12:37 PM
    Clever study and research topic.
  • Re: What Scientists Really Think About Religion
     Reply #2 - May 31, 2010, 01:14 PM
    Its is 1400 elite USA scientists though, I am sure European scientists results would be wholly different
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  • Re: What Scientists Really Think About Religion
     Reply #3 - May 31, 2010, 02:52 PM
    interesting. Afro
    "Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so." -- Bertrand Russell

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  • Re: What Scientists Really Think About Religion
     Reply #4 - May 31, 2010, 03:15 PM
    They should do one on doctors.  I wanna know how many doctors believe in miracles or how many have seen miracles.
    "A good man is so hard to find but a hard man is so good to find"
  • Re: What Scientists Really Think About Religion
     Reply #5 - May 31, 2010, 03:19 PM
    Quote from: IsLame on May 31, 2010, 01:14 PM
    Its is 1400 elite USA scientists though, I am sure European scientists results would be wholly different

    How can  you be sure? Huh?
    "If intelligence is feminine... I would want that mine would, in a resolute movement, come to resemble an impious woman."
  • Re: What Scientists Really Think About Religion
     Reply #6 - May 31, 2010, 03:20 PM
    Because I imagine the stats would parallel European irreligious rates.
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  • Re: What Scientists Really Think About Religion
     Reply #7 - May 31, 2010, 03:23 PM
    in the lab i work in we had a medical doctor who was doing a PhD with us. He was a devout Christian, and used to invite me to carol service during xmas, lols (even though he knew i was Muslim).

    in general i think that a lot of the top physicists believe in some sort of Creator God or are at least agnostic about one. They defintely think that religions, in particular the Abrahamic ones, are nonsense though.
    ''we are morally and philisophically in the best position to win the league'' - Arsene Wenger
  • Re: What Scientists Really Think About Religion
     Reply #8 - May 31, 2010, 03:24 PM
    Interesting article, thanks! Afro
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  • Re: What Scientists Really Think About Religion
     Reply #9 - May 31, 2010, 04:02 PM
    Read this top page from The God Delusion about statistics of American scientists.
    "Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so." -- Bertrand Russell

    Baloney Detection Kit
  • Re: What Scientists Really Think About Religion
     Reply #10 - May 31, 2010, 04:12 PM
    Thanks, it points to another set of statistics -  7% of elected as peers at the National Academy of Scientists believe in a creator God.
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  • Re: What Scientists Really Think About Religion
     Reply #11 - May 31, 2010, 04:24 PM
    Quote from: IsLame on May 31, 2010, 01:14 PM
    Its is 1400 elite USA scientists though, I am sure European scientists results would be wholly different


    has a survey been done on a muslim country? perhaps like turkey?
    Nothing can be more contrary to religion and the clergy than reason and common sense. - Voltaire
  • Re: What Scientists Really Think About Religion
     Reply #12 - May 31, 2010, 04:27 PM
    Quote from: Saathiya on May 31, 2010, 03:15 PM
    They should do one on doctors.  I wanna know how many doctors believe in miracles or how many have seen miracles.


    Lots. Maybe 10% (my own guess) go in for the dogmatic literalist brand of religious thought.
  • Re: What Scientists Really Think About Religion
     Reply #13 - May 31, 2010, 04:29 PM
    Quote from: canex on May 31, 2010, 04:24 PM
    has a survey been done on a muslim country? perhaps like turkey?

    Not sure about Turkey, but I would be interested to see Pakistans and Irans results for those that believe in an Abrahmic God and those that dont.
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  • Re: What Scientists Really Think About Religion
     Reply #14 - May 31, 2010, 08:27 PM
    rationalist pakistani scientists have been working hard in pakistan. but they still claim to be muslims. look up pervez hoodboy.
    Nothing can be more contrary to religion and the clergy than reason and common sense. - Voltaire
  • Re: What Scientists Really Think About Religion
     Reply #15 - May 31, 2010, 10:09 PM
    Interesting.
  • Re: What Scientists Really Think About Religion
     Reply #16 - June 06, 2010, 11:26 AM
    Quote from: IsLame on May 31, 2010, 04:12 PM
    Thanks, it points to another set of statistics -  7% of elected as peers at the National Academy of Scientists believe in a creator God.

    I've always wondered about this statistic.  How reliable is it to survey the membership of a particular organisation on a question like this?  Is it possible that membership in the organisation is somehow linked to matters of belief?  As I understand it, the response rate was 50%.  Is this 50% representative of the whole?  What impact might other factors such as wealth or income have on the correlation - particularly when you are comparing to the population as a whole?

    I particularly wonder this when there was so little change in the apparent percentage of believers in a personal God among scientists as a wider group between 1914 and 1996 and such a large change for 'elite scientists'.
  • Re: What Scientists Really Think About Religion
     Reply #17 - June 06, 2010, 02:50 PM
    Quote from: sparky on June 06, 2010, 11:26 AM
    I've always wondered about this statistic.

    I didnt wonder about this statistic, if anything 7% is too low.  Problem is scientists look for proof & evidence of phenomenon before they are prepared to confirm its true.

    I am still surprised that your surprised, unless a degree of cognitive dissonance is reponsible.
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  • Re: What Scientists Really Think About Religion
     Reply #18 - June 06, 2010, 05:05 PM
    Interesting. But the more important question is, Why? I mean from a philosophical perspective. Does it explain that people need religion to order their lives and give them meaning?
  • Re: What Scientists Really Think About Religion
     Reply #19 - June 06, 2010, 05:18 PM
    Because the universe is puzzling, and accept what their parents ingrained into them. 

    Every other explanation just seems more bizarre and less satisfying than the one that they have been brainwashed to believe, so they stick to the status quo.
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  • Re: What Scientists Really Think About Religion
     Reply #20 - June 06, 2010, 05:21 PM
    That's a bit condescending, don't you think?
  • Re: What Scientists Really Think About Religion
     Reply #21 - June 06, 2010, 05:24 PM
    Might be but so what, if thats the way it is?  (P.S I am not judging the belief in a creator God, which I believe is possible, but the belief in the personal God)
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  • Re: What Scientists Really Think About Religion
     Reply #22 - June 06, 2010, 05:43 PM
    Why is personal God more absurd?
  • Re: What Scientists Really Think About Religion
     Reply #23 - June 07, 2010, 04:25 AM
    Quote from: IsLame on June 06, 2010, 02:50 PM
    I didnt wonder about this statistic, if anything 7% is too low.  Problem is scientists look for proof & evidence of phenomenon before they are prepared to confirm its true.

    I am still surprised that your surprised, unless a degree of cognitive dissonance is reponsible.

    I said 'wonder' - as in 'I question it'.  Not surprise.  And I gave the reasons - namely the contrast between the change in the 'elite scientists' group and the lack of change in the 'scientists in general' group.

    My only surprise is that those who would claim to place such a high value on evidence would accept a statistic so unquestioningly simply because it confirms their preconceptions.
  • Re: What Scientists Really Think About Religion
     Reply #24 - June 07, 2010, 11:53 PM
    Quote from: BlackDog on June 06, 2010, 05:43 PM
    Why is personal God more absurd?

    if you want the short version, read my  blog in my sig
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  • Re: What Scientists Really Think About Religion
     Reply #25 - June 08, 2010, 07:33 AM
    So wait a personal god equates a god from a religion?

    like allah, jehova, yahweh?
  • Re: What Scientists Really Think About Religion
     Reply #26 - June 09, 2010, 01:55 AM
    that looks really interesting , i might actually look for that book :O
    [13:36] <Fimbles> anything above 7 inches
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  • Re: What Scientists Really Think About Religion
     Reply #27 - June 10, 2010, 03:50 PM
    Quote from: BlackDog on June 08, 2010, 07:33 AM
    So wait a personal god equates a god from a religion?

    like allah, jehova, yahweh?

    Yes, thats normally what people mean when they talk about a personal God as opposed to a deist God etc.
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  • Re: What Scientists Really Think About Religion
     Reply #28 - June 11, 2010, 04:28 AM
    Interesting find
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