Is science for atheists? Perceived threat to religious cultural authority explains U.S. Christians’ distrust in secularized science

Dados Bibliográficos

ID20403267
AutoresAin Simpson (0000-0002-1690-486X, Miami University, autor correspondente), Kimberly Rios (0000-0003-4844-8405, Ohio University)
Ano2019
Volume28
Fascículo7
Páginas740-758
Data de publicação2019-10-01
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoPublic Understanding of Science (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0963-6625 • E-ISSN: 1361-6609
EditoraSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0963662519871881
PMID31524093
OpenAlexW2971619811
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas26
Referências citadas27

A history of perceived conflict between religion and science persists in the U.S. “culture wars” that juxtapose religious and secular worldviews. As modern societies grow increasingly secular, religion is often deemed an impediment to science-based policy-making, whereas science is increasingly associated with atheism. In the present research, we addressed how perceived science–atheism associations affect U.S. Christians’ attitudes toward science. In study 1, participants’ own estimates of atheists’ prevalence in science uniquely predicted distrust in science, and study 2 revealed a causal effect of perceived prevalence of atheists on distrust in science. Studies 3–4 (the latter preregistered) manipulated the concept of science–atheism associations more generally, revealing the same effects. These effects were mediated by the belief that scientists are anti-religion, not by moral distrust toward atheists or fundamentalist religious beliefs. Hence, Christians’ institutional distrust in secularized science may derive largely from a perceived threat to the cultural status of religion

Atheism · Distrust · Political science · Secularization · Sociology · Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion · Law · Philosophy · Psychology · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology · Religious studies · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology