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

CHAPTER 4Spiritual EntrepreneursEvelyn, 1 the chemist we met in Chapter 2 , said that when “[religion] doesn’twork, it ends up being a mechanism by which people’s thoughts and lives arecontrolled or meant to be controlled.” Evelyn feels differently about spirituality .“Spirituality is a much more individual, personal thing,” she remarked with avoice of firm conviction. After saying this, she paused reflectively and then continued,“When I think of a spiritual person, the word ‘judgment’ doesn’t evenpop into my mind.” Although she does not consider herself religious in a conventionalsense, her spiritual views influence her actions in a number of ways.For instance, she would not contribute to research that might lead to thedestruction of the environment, and she tries to bike rather than drive in orderto help the environment. This is part of her general philosophy of “mindfulness.”She has taught her son to be a vegetarian, which also seems to stem fromher spiritual beliefs. And for her, running is a spiritual and meditative “Zenexperience.”Like Evelyn and the over 20 percent of scientists who see themselves as spiritualbut not religious in a traditional sense, more and more Americans areexploring a unique spirituality that may still borrow from traditional religions.Some scholars even think that to be “spiritual-but-not-religious” may indeed bequintessentially American. According to a recent national survey, over 70 percentof American adults consider themselves spiritual to some extent. 2 But spiritualityby itself evokes a sense of cynicism among the highly religious in somecircles; it is considered to be a term used by those who want to partake of somebroader framework to find meaning in life but avoid any responsibility to religiouscommunities or fellow sojourners. Scholars and practitioners alike havedifficulty defining the term. Religion scholars think that Americans tend to linkspirituality to interaction with some form of a higher being. And most Americansactually do see spirituality as including facets of traditional religion. In hisbook After Heaven: Spirituality in America Since the 1950s , Princeton Universitysociologist Robert Wuthnow asked his interview subjects to give their own definitionsof spirituality. Their answers ranged from near-death experiences, unseen51