While this semester has been one hell of a challenge, it’s almost over and I’ll survive the semester with passing grades, at the very least.
However, the point of this piece isn’t gonna be a rant about how rough this semester’s been. Rather, I want to focus on my final project for my Logic and Contemporary Rhetoric course (which fills the Sociology credits I need). My final project (which I’ve been researching for this entire semester) focuses on the question, “Why are so many Americans losing trust in science- or more accurately- scientists?”
As I’ve been researching this question, I’ve read and summarized about 20 articles at this point. However, this weekend, one caught my eye that didn’t quite fit into my project, but I found very interesting regardless. It’s titled, “Are Scientists Biased Against Christians? Exploring Real and Perceived Bias Against Christians in Academic Biology.”
Now, I grew up in a very large, blended, and ideologically diverse family. Most of my older relatives are very conservative, evangelical, fundamentalist Christians. Thus, that’s the type of Christianity I grew up to know, and later reject in my “angry atheist” teenage years. I’ve since reconciled my faith and consider myself a devout Christian today. But my faith hardly reflects the faith that I grew up with- aside from the fact that I believe Jesus Christ died for my sins (which all Christians believe).
Unlike my conservative, Christian relatives, I “believe” in all aspects of evolution, including that humans and chimpanzees share a common ancestor. I “believe” that the earth is approximately four billion years old, and the universe is around fourteen billion years old. I “believe” that dinosaurs existed long before humans came to exist. I put “believe” in quotes because I don’t simply “believe” in science. There are many ways one can confirm something as scientific fact. Evolution, for example, is a scientific fact thanks to numerous studies (AKA experiments) that have all concluded that evolution happens; that living things (including animals) evolve from one species/kind to another over time.
Yet, I must admit, I still feel like I stick out like a sore thumb at university, partly because I still consider myself a Christian. Meanwhile, it seems like the majority of my professors and peers are agnostic and/or outright atheist.
Hell, beyond CU Denver, it seems like the majority of scientists, academics, and science communicators in general are agnostic/atheist, especially the most famous ones. Richard Dawkins, Bill Nye, Isaac Asimov, Adam Savage, Stephen Hawking, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Hank Green, Forrest Valkai, Jane Goodall, James Watson, Noam Chomsky, Dave Farina, Carl Sagan- all of these guys, and more, were/are outspoken atheists. The only famous, modern scientist who is an outspoken Christian is Dr. Francis Collins.
I say "modern scientist" because I'm well aware of the fact that most scientists were religious way back in the day. Sir Isaac Newton, Gregor Mendel, Charles Darwin, Galileo, and many more, were all scientists who were staunch Christians and contributed massively to science. Even the scientific method itself was invented and developed over centuries exclusively by Christian scholars interested in learning about God's creation (AKA the natural world). But, that was centuries ago.
Nowadays, most famous scientists and science communicators are explicitly atheistic, and damn proud of it, too. This isn't an inherently bad thing. But, it certainly doesn't help to mend the perceived growing gap between science and faith, at a time when scientists are being defunded by the federal government in record numbers, because the majority of the voting public decided that they can't trust scientists anymore.
Of course, that’s not to say that there are almost no modern scientists who are also Christian, or that there aren't scientists out there trying to regain the public's trust in science by making it more relatable to people from all walks of life. Obviously, they exist. However, the journal article I read pointed out that only about 30% of scientists identify as Christian. It’s even worse in the biological sciences, where only 25% of biologists claim to be religious, at all, let alone Christian! And none of those scientists are exactly well-known. The well-known ones are, as I stated before, damn near anti-religious and proud of it, too.
In other words, I’m not crazy for feeling a bit “out of place” on my university campus. I’m not crazy for perceiving that science is overwhelmingly represented by atheists and agnostics. I'm not crazy for thinking that a few scientists are openly hostile towards religion and religious folks, especially Christians (something, something, The Four Horsemen).
Plus, there’s a very real lack of Christians (or religious people in general) who represent modern science. But there are more than enough Christian influencers who outright reject modern science, as well as atheist influencers who outright reject religion on the basis of science.
That said, again, it’s not inherently bad that the vast majority of scientists are atheist/agnostic. Nor am I claiming that I’m being discriminated against by my peers and professors for being a Christian (I’m not being discriminated against, to my knowledge). But, the fact that the majority of scientists are atheist/agnostic may explain why so many Americans have been losing trust in science, to the point that many Americans are outright rejecting it and cheering on the federal government as it defunds science.
After all, in order for people to have trust in something, that “something” must be relatable in some way. It has to feel relevant and relatable to someone in order for them to have trust in that “something”. When something feels completely irrelevant and unrelatable to someone, you can’t expect them to trust it. Never mind the fact that science is massively important and relevant to each and every one of us. I’m not speaking about facts when I’m talking about how people feel and perceive the world.
In other words, I’m willing to bet so many people reject modern science because they can’t relate to the scientists who propagate it. There aren’t nearly enough scientists espousing their Christian beliefs and explaining the Theology behind their faith. More specifically, there aren’t enough biologists (or scientists in general) who are adequately explaining how humans can simultaneously be related to apes (and are thus animals), and still bear God’s image.
However, there are plenty of people- both Christians and atheists- who’ve dedicated their lives to driving a giant wedge between modern science and the Christian faith. Ken Ham- the guy who runs the Creation museum in Kentucky- is certainly an extreme example of this. But he’s so damn popular and influential that he’s got friends in the government (such as Mike Johnson, the current Speaker of the House) actively working to defund science and fund private Christian schools, which are notorious for teaching kids that modern science and Christianity are incompatible.
All this leads me to wonder, “how can we fix this?” How can scientists and aspiring scientists who are also religious, speak up in such a way that we speak to people who’ve been raised to distrust science and scientists? How can we work to close the apparent chasm between science and faith? How can we fight against the stereotypes that make Christians seem stupid and backwards, and scientists seem arrogant and unapproachable?
Personally, I don’t have the answers to any of those questions. I’ve spent this entire summer, so far, wrestling with those questions intensely for a project in one of my college classes. But, the topic of “science vs faith” has been bothering me since middle school, at least.
In fact, the perceived incompatibility between faith and science was what led to me completely deconstructing my faith till there was nothing left, then rebuilding it from scratch. I suspect the perceived incompatibility between science and faith has caused many, many people to leave religion in the dust, some of whom have never- and will never- look back.
To be continued... maybe...
The paper that sparked this blog:
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0226826
