The overwhelming impression one gets from the media today is that there is a major battle being fought between the proponents of religion and science. Various postings on Rom Phra Khun might themselves lead its gentle readers to that same conclusion. In this context, a recent article by Christopher P. Scheitle entitled, "U.S. College Students’ Perception of Religion and Science: Conflict, Collaboration, or Independence? A Research Note," in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion (2011, 50, 1: 175-186) offers an enlightening counterpoint. Drawing on data from UCLA's Spirituality in Higher Education Project conducted in 2003 and 2007, Scheitle studied how undergraduates understand the relationship between religion and science.
His primary finding is that, "...a significant majority of undergraduates in all of the fields view the relationship between religion and science as one of independence or collaboration, not one of conflict." (p. 179) As freshman, the students in the natural sciences and engineering & mathematics tended to side with science, but some 70.3% of them believed that the two are either independent of each other or there is collaboration between them. Freshman business and education students tended to see conflict between the two more than the science and engineering students and strongly sided with religion. Students who showed a high commitment to their religion and students who ere religiously conservatives tended to hold a conflicted view of science and religion and, of course, favor religion. When these students retook the survey as juniors, in general, those who changed their minds largely were those who had seen religion and science in conflict; they had decided they are not. In general, most of those who changed their minds from conflict to no conflict were students who had sided with religion, and very few students switched sides from pro-one side to pro-the other side.
The study, in sum, found a mixed picture regarding student perceptions of the relationship between science and religion. On the one hand, a large majority of students running to 70% do not see the two in conflict. On the other hand, those who do see conflict between them tended to cluster in the sciences & engineering on the pro-science side and in business and education on the pro-religion side. In other words, while the great majority of college educated people do not see conflict between religion and science, the public battle between the two will continue into the future. Since a solid majority of education majors are pro-religion, it is likely to continue particularly in our nation's schools.
This data suggests a couple of things: first, more than ever there is going to be a need for moderate and progressive churches that preach and teach the message that science is not in conflict with the Christian faith and the teachings of the Bible. Second, also more than ever there is a need for a large, articulate, and popular middle way literature that will equip people with insights into how religion and science complement each other.
