Why Most Elite Scientists In the Western World Are Non-Religious.
Why Most Elite Scientists In the Western World Are Non-Religious.
It's no surprise that scientists turn to be less religious. This trend became much popular in the late 20th century with the emergence of scientists like Charles Darwin.
In the year 2011, research was conducted in the US. The research revealed that 40% of scientists were religious, and among the elite scientists, only 7% were religious.
In 2018, another study was carried out in the UK. This also indicated that 65% of scientists were religious, yet the percentage was less among the elites.
To bring these in a clearer perspective, as of the year 2011, 60% of scientists in the US when non-religious whiles 35% were non-religious in the UK.
These are statistically significant figures to draw conclusions. Hence, the reason people speculate that the more scientific a person is, the less likely they are to be religious.
Elaine Howard Ecklund, a Professor of Sociology, and Director of the Religion and Public Life Program at Rice University, remarked...
“Individuals who are at the most elite institutions may disproportionately feel the cultural pressure to secularize. So, if those methods and mindset are inherently in conflict with religion, then these successful scientists would experience the greatest erosion of religious faith.â€
She added,...
“Elite scientists might express less religiosity because they assume that, as elite scientists, they are supposed to be or need to be less religious to fit a professional ideal, because they might already be on the fringes of that professional ideal in the first place, non-elite scientists may feel less social and cultural pressure to further conform to it.â€
She also noted that such findings could also be a product of social forces rather than intellectual ones.
Like Prof. Elaine Howard Ecklund, other authors indicated that these elites might be concerned that being seen as more active participants in religion would violate some professional norm.
In most cases, intelligence is equated to being non-religious. Therefore, many intelligent people are most likely to identify as non-religious just to save themselves from these kinds of oppressions. In some cases, people are denied certain opportunities or privileges because they're religious.
Suffice to say, ALL The founding fathers of Science were religious, Christians to be specific. Also, the majority of Nobel prize-winning scientists are religious.
This implies that Science was never against religion, to begin with. How then has it become so?
Mich-Shaker ©
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