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

No God on the Quad 101quiet about her involvement in her congregation, since she is convinced thereare very few scientists in her department or broader university who are alsoreligious. However, she had a lot to say about the ramifications her faith has onher life as a scientist, such as her ethos of teaching and mentoring. Margarettold me exactly how religion influences her interactions with students and colleagues.It helps her to respond to what she called “the games people play” inthe academy. Unlike many of her colleagues, she tries to provide all those whowork with her clear insights into how the research process works and the kindof information they need, whether they are undergraduates, colleagues, or evenpotential competitors outside the university. Among elite scientists like Margaretwho have a religious tradition, 53 percent see their religion or spiritualityinfluencing their interactions with students and colleagues (compared to 25percent of scientists with no religious tradition). 46Even though Margaret is herself religious, her model of the university alsocould fall under the Model of Opposition—not because she finds religion orscience dangerous, but because to her, religion is inherently private and scienceis public. When I asked Margaret how religion comes up in her department orin the broader university, she would instinctively turn the conversation to theprivate aspects. She knows that some of the people she works with—graduateassistants and postdoctoral fellows—are religious, because these individualswill sometimes talk about their religious practices. But there are no deep conversationsabout the content of religion. When I pressed Margaret further toanswer my question about the role that religion ought to occupy in universities,she had no ideas:I can’t think of scientists really being spiritual. Maybe I just don’t see that aspectof my colleagues. I don’t see it so much in the workplace. I mean I see people whohave ethics, who are imaginative with respect to their work, but their spiritualside . . . [she trailed off]. We just don’t talk about it.Margaret then wondered aloud how they would talk about science and religiontogether. She was deeply thankful that religion had not come up publicly in herown work as a chemist, expressing some relief that at least those in her field ofchemistry “haven’t been faced with creationism or anything like that, at leastnot in the classes or in the lab settings so much.” In general, she told me thatshe tries to keep the personal, which includes religion, out of her lab. Sheexplained, “I’ve had some Baptist students. I mean those are the most conservativeones I can think of, and I knew [that one researcher in my lab] went toBible study . . . but so did I.” Even though she and this researcher encounteredeach other in the same Bible study, they never discussed religious ideas at work.