Traditional, Modern, and Post-Secular Perspectives on Science and Religion and Public Opinion in the United States

• In Event: 165 - Section on Sociology of Religion Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 02. Religion and Its Challengers

Abstract

Popular and scholarly accounts of science and religion often emphasize conflict between these two ways of knowing. However, relatively little is known about how orientations toward science and religion correspond to wider cultural divisions in the United States. To fill this gap, we examine how modern, traditional, and post-secular perspectives on science and religion relate to a variety of interpersonal and socio-political attitudes using GSS data from 2006, 2008 and 2010. We find that perspectives on science and religion are linked to a wide range of attitudes but that differences cannot be easily classified as either conservative or liberal. For example, those with a modern perspective of science and religion have significantly more permissive attitudes about gender and same-sex marriage. Additionally, the individuals espousing the post-secular and modern perspectives hold similar attitudes about civil liberties and general health and well-being but differ on issues such as suicide and government spending in certain domains, where post-seculars are more similar to traditionals in their attitudes. Post-seculars held the most restrictive attitudes about abortion. We conclude by discussing the implications of these results for understandings of science and religion as guiding worldviews in American public opinion and political culture.

Authors

• Shiri Noy, University of Wyoming

• Timothy L O'Brien, University of Evansville