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

The Voice of Faith 45has experienced this sort of discrimination, she quickly added that she has not,because most other physicists do not know about her faith.Regardless of whether or not scientists do or would experience religious discrimination,to paraphrase sociologist W. I. Thomas’s famous maxim, “If mendefine situations as real, they are real in their consequences.” 37 Janice perceivesthat the climate surrounding religion is so hostile that if she were to talk abouther faith, she would bear the brunt of negative sentiments that would affect herability to succeed as a scholar. There is evidence for Janice’s perception. Forexample, she recounts the experience of talking with colleagues about teachingand her colleagues’ dismay that students come to their university with muchless background in math than should be expected. A colleague quipped toJanice, “It’s stupid intelligent design. It’s stupid Christianity.” The fact thatJanice’s colleague immediately assumed that all Christians reject evolutionmakes her uneasy about being open with her faith.Janice is not only frustrated with her colleagues but also with those outsidethe academy:It is really unfortunate that science has been undermined so much, and it’s sofrustrating to me . . . . I see this world in perfect order that we’re trying to figureout, that we mere humans are trying to understand, and it’s so beautiful. Everythingis so self-consistent, everything is so beautifully described by this mathematicallanguage . . . . That’s to the glory of God more than some imperfect worldthat needs constant intervention to run properly. So it’s very frustrating to methat such a large fraction of our country seems to denigrate science, and thinkthat they have to, in order to be properly religious.Janice would like to see more done to translate science to the broader publicbut feels stuck within her closeted faith. Because of what she sees as threats toher career, she’s in no position to serve the religious American public as aspokesperson for the science that she so dearly values. When religious scientistsfeel suppressed, science loses its most fluent translators to the broader Americansociety.THE BOUNDARY PIONEERAlthough many of the religious scientists I talked with thought that theirsecular colleagues were negative toward religion, this perception was notalways borne out in my actual discussions with nonreligious scientists. There