The US Religious Public and Radical Human Enhancements

Bibliographic Data

ID19229522
AuthorsJohn H Evans (0000-0002-1351-0953, Department of Sociology University of California San Diego California USA, corresponding author)
Year2026
Publication date2026-05-19
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal for the Scientific Study of Religion (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-8294 • E-ISSN: 1468-5906
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/jssr.70069
OpenAlexW7161687268
LanguageEN
References cited35

A radical enhancement to the human body or brain is defined as giving human capabilities that no past or present human has possessed. These are being developed by scientists and bioengineers and backed by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. This article reports on the first study of the US religious public's views of radical enhancements using a nationally representative survey. Church‐attending conservative Protestants are more opposed to enhancement—and atheists/agnostics are more supportive—than are the religiously indifferent. These differences are fully explained by three secular ideologies previous studies have found to be important in studies of biotechnology. Additionally, restricting analysis to variation among Christians, theological beliefs about the role of humans in the natural world that cross traditions also explain differences in support and opposition. However, among Christians it is secular ideologies, not theological beliefs or religious identities, that explain support or opposition to radical enhancement

Ideology · Opposition (politics) · Radical right · Religious belief · Secular education · Secularism · Variation (astronomy) · CRISPR and Genetic Engineering · Evolution and Science Education · Neuroethics, Human Enhancement, Biomedical Innovations

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