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

66Crossing the Picket Lines: The Personal Faith of Scientistsreasons. A sociologist 45 (who told me that the only religious academic sheknows of is a guy who has eight kids whom he homeschools to bring them up“in the religious way”) said she doesn’t “practice religion, but [is] a spiritualperson.” Her specific choice of research topics is partly linked to her sense ofspirituality. She studies “poverty and inequality because [she] thinks it is agood use of [her] time and [her] skills.” She went on to say, “I would feel likestudying something that wasn’t going to help society would be a hard thing forme to do. So for me, it’s more of a philosophy, a spiritual thing and not a religiouslyguided thing.” This sociologist (who was raised as a Catholic but nowconsiders herself an atheist) chooses to focus on inequality because of thepotential her studies will have to help people, and this is linked very directly toher sense of spirituality.For still others, spirituality is linked to a motivation to care for the environment.When I asked an ethnically Jewish economist 46 —who was drawn to hisdiscipline partly because of his love of mathematics—about God, he told methat a belief in God was not necessary to his spirituality. He also explained thathis sense of spirituality influences his commitment to the environment:I’m going to sound like some flipping New Ager here . . . . I have a very strongcommitment toward the outdoors and the environment, and I think that cankind of be a spiritual commitment. I’ve made provisions to give a substantialamount of money in my will to the Nature Conservancy, for example.This excerpt is particularly instructive, because it is reflective of the group ofscientists who view spirituality as intimately linked with their practices. Thisscientist’s choice to leave money to an environmental organization is connectedto his sense of the spiritual. Also, we see in my conversation with thiseconomist, as with others above, that he views general spirituality as “NewAge,” which he implies is spurious. He contrasts it with his own state by demonstratinghow his spirituality generates true action (and in his case, financialcommitment) for the sake of the environment.IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCHThe narratives (and the statistics) these scientists provide reveal that engagingin some form of spirituality often helps them to think outside of themselves.Their spirituality is sometimes connected to a form of religion (being Jewish, forexample), but more often, it’s not. Such narratives reveal that the implications