Science vs. religion : what scientists really think - File PDF

38Crossing the Picket Lines: The Personal Faith of Scientistsof two key Christian doctrines: equality and respect for all humanity, and anawareness of human pride and sinfulness. This understanding led to hisadvocacy for the voiceless within the broader public sphere. He championedChristian intervention against human rights violations and has been widelyinfluential among a broad range of modern-day thinkers, from journalistDavid Brooks to the late Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Arthur M. SchlesingerJr. 21Like Niebuhr, many of the religious scientists I talked with placed greatvalue on their coworkers and students as people created in the image of God inthe midst of a competitive scientific profession that often seems to chew up andspit out individuals with little regard for human dignity. This desire to care forothers even in this competitive environment often means that these scientistslive according to values and with worldviews that are quite different from thoseof their nonreligious peers. These scientists’ worldviews and practices madethem different from their colleagues in how they thought of themselves. Theirreligious identities contributed to and shaped their identities as scientists.Scientists specifically drew on aspects of their religious selves to make senseof the competitive environment of academic science. In doing so, they engagedin what sociologist Michèle Lamont has called a boundary ideology , using amoral barrier to create distance between themselves and their colleagues whodid not share their philosophy of providing help to others. 22 I spoke with abiologist23in his mid forties, on the faculty of a large state university in theMidwest, who was raised in a Presbyterian church where his mother was thechoir director for fifty years. Religion has a powerful impact on the way that hetreats his colleagues and students. Indeed, he says, religion “always influences”how he thinks about mentoring those who work in his lab. This biologistdescribed his beliefs as classically Christian, holding that “Jesus Christ was bornand died and rose again, and there’s some afterlife.” While he “hires good people,”he knows that it is sometimes better for those he works with—better fortheir overall professional success—to allow them to “move on” to other jobswhere they can get more experience. This biologist contrasted himself withsome of his nonbelieving colleagues who “don’t like to see success in otherpeople, because they think it makes them look bad.” His sensibilities as a Christianhave also helped this biologist put his own intelligence in perspective. Heexplained, “I hang out with people who are a lot smarter than I am, and that’sokay. I have tried to live my life helping people as much as I can. That includesmy students. Their success is my success. And I think my upbringing obviouslyinfluences that.” In an intensely competitive environment, coming to termswith his own abilities—or, as he would put it, being content with the personGod made him to be—was generated from his understanding of the Christian