Identity in a Secular Age: Science, Religion, and Public Perceptions

by Fern Elsdon-Baker (Editor), Bernard Lightman (Editor)

Overview

Although historians have suggested for some time that we move away from the assumption of a necessary clash between science and religion, the conflict narrative persists in contemporary discourse. But why? And how do we really know what people actually think about evolutionary science, let alone the many and varied ways in which it might relate to individual belief? In this multidisciplinary volume, experts in history and philosophy of science, oral history, sociology of religion, social psychology, and science communication and public engagement look beyond two warring systems of thought. They consider a far more complex, multifaceted, and distinctly more interesting picture of how differing groups along a spectrum of worldviews—including atheistic, agnostic, and faith groups—relate to and form the ongoing narrative of a necessary clash between evolution and faith. By ascribing agency to the public, from the nineteenth century to the present and across Canada and the United Kingdom, this volume offers a much more nuanced analysis of people’s perceptions about the relationship between evolutionary science, religion, and personal belief, one that better elucidates the complexities not only of that relationship but of actual lived experience.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780822946281
Publisher:	University of Pittsburgh Press
Publication date:	09/15/2020
Edition description:	1
Pages:	312
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Fern Elsdon-Baker is professor of science, knowledge, and belief in society at the University of Birmingham, where she leads the Science, Knowledge and Belief in Society Research Group. She is the author of Selfish Genius: How Richard Dawkins Rewrote Darwin’s Legacy.

Bernard Lightman is distinguished research professor in the Humanities Department at York University. His most recent books include Rethinking History, Science, and Religion and The Metaphysical Society (1869-1880).
 

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Acknowledgments xv

Introduction Fern Elsdon-Baker Bernard Lightman 3

Part I The Public Sphere

1 From Conflict to Complexity: Historians and Nineteenth-Century Public Perceptions of Science and Religion Bernard Lightman Sylvia Nickerson Parandis Tajbakhsh 13

2 Creating Hard-Line "Secular" Evolutionists: The Influence of Question Design on Our Understanding of Public Perceptions of Clash Narratives Fern Elsdon-Baker 30

3 Science and Religion Conflict in the United States A Closer Look at the Polls Jonathan P. Hill 50

4 Evolution on the Small Screen: Reflections on Media, Science, and Religion in Twentieth-Century Britain Alexander Hall 67

Part II Conflict and Identity

5 Life Story Oral Histories in the Field of Science and Religion Paul Merchant 87

6 Science and Religion as Lived Experience: Narratives of Evolution among British and Canadian Publics and Life Scientists Stephen H. Jones Tom Kaden 99

7 Beyond Belief Systems: Promoting a Social Identity Approach to the Study of Science and Religion Carissa A. Sharp Carola Leicht 111

Part III Secularization

8 The Conflict Narrative, Group Identity, and the Uses of History Peter Harrison 129

9 Secularization What Has Science Got to Do with It? Amy Unsworth 141

10 Science as Secular: Dynamics of Reflection, Tolerance, and Contestation in British and Canadian Scientific Workplaces Rebecca Catto 159

Part IV Future Directions: Methodological and Theoretical

11 The Methodological Challenges and Possibilities of Social Scientific Study of Religion and Science Across National Contexts Elaine Howard Ecklund David R. Johnson Robert A. Thomson Jr. 175

12 Possibilities for Future Elite Conflict Between Science and Religion John H. Evans 189

Coda Fern Elsdon-Baker Bernard Lightman 202

Notes 209

Selected Bibliography 245

List of Contributors 253

Index 257

Editorial Reviews

Identity in a Secular Age adopts a fresh approach to the important subject of the interrelations of science and religion. Many of its chapters move the spotlight onto the public understanding of these issues and demonstrate the importance of the role of the media—books, periodicals, television—in disseminating the topic to a wide variety of nonelite audiences. This is indeed a welcome collection.”—Geoffrey Cantor, University of Leeds
 

“Fern Elsdon-Baker and Bernard Lightman have refreshed the discussion of ‘science and religion.’ Shifting attention from intellectual elites and conflicting belief systems, their contributors embrace the methods of history and the social sciences, including social psychology, to gain access to popular perceptions of scientific and religious authority. Cutting-edge in its application of social identity theory, this is an exciting and original book.”—John Hedley Brooke, Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford
 

“Building on the pioneering research of a handful of earlier scholars who explored the relationship(s) between science and religion, the contributors to this volume, primarily historians and social scientists, push the discussion beyond traditional boundaries to explore public perceptions and media portrayals. All students of science and religion will find valuable insights in this volume.” —Ronald L. Numbers, University of Wisconsin-Madison

From the Publisher