Morals Not Knowledge - by John H Evans (Paperback)

About the Book

"Academics have long claimed that the relationship between religion and science concerns knowledge of the physical world, and that conflict ensues because religion has one way of knowing and science another. For example, it is claimed that to find the age of the Earth religious people look to holy scripture and scientists look at the age of rocks. This book shows that this is indeed true among the elites who focus on this debate. However, contrary to the assumptions of elites and public discourse in general, that same relationship and conflict does not exist between religious citizens and science. This book shows that regular religious people in the U.S. are at most in conflict over a few fact claims with science, and that this limited conflict does not lead to conflict with scientific claims writ large. More importantly, American religion has changed since the 1960s, de-emphasizing knowledge claims about the physical world, and becoming more focused on social relationships and thus morality. This book shows that any religion and science debate in the public is not about scientific claims about nature, such as the age of the Earth, but rather about morality - and opposition to the morality implicitly promoted by scientists"--Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press's Open Access publishing program for monographs. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more.

In a time when conservative politicians challenge the irrefutability of scientific findings such as climate change, it is more important than ever to understand the conflict at the heart of the "religion vs. science" debates unfolding in the public sphere. In this groundbreaking work, John H. Evans reveals that, with a few limited exceptions, even the most conservative religious Americans accept science's ability to make factual claims about the world. However, many religious people take issue with the morality implicitly promoted by some forms of science. Using clear and engaging scholarship, Evans upends the prevailing notion that there is a fundamental conflict over the way that scientists and religious people make claims about nature and argues that only by properly understanding moral conflict between contemporary religion and science will we be able to contribute to a more productive interaction between these two great institutions.

From the Back Cover

"John H. Evans successfully relocates religious concerns about science from the realm of knowledge to that of moral value. He is by far the best (i.e., the most sophisticated) of the sociologists."--Ronald L. Numbers, Hilldale Professor Emeritus of the History of Science and Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison

"This is just the kind of volume that academics, journalists, and policymakers who are concerned about the future of science need. Evans argues that contemporary debate around religion and science in the U.S. public sphere assumes that religious people lack knowledge of science. In reality, most everyday Americans (even conservative Protestants) accept and uphold science. The kind of synthetic field-building work that Evans does is needed in this burgeoning area."--Elaine Howard Ecklund, Herbert S. Autrey Chair in Social Sciences, Rice University

Review Quotes

"Morals Not Knowledge provides a roadmap for a more constructive dialogue, if not full reconciliation, between the two camps. . . . offers an engaging and intriguing reconceptualization of science, religion, and the nature of conflict between them. It is a must-read for social scientists whose work focuses on the interface between science and religion, and it will also be of interest to historians, scientists, theologians, and philosophers who study these issues. Evans makes a significant advance with this book, and it is likely to spur exciting new research in coming years to test and refine its claims."-- "American Journal of Sociology"

"John H. Evans has written a well-researched, multi-disciplinary text that speaks to our current historical moment. Using the sociology of religion; the history of sociology, science, and science's relationship with religion; and data sets from surveys and in-depth interviews, Evans explores and troubles the alleged 'foundational knowledge conflict' between religion and science."-- "Metapsychology Online Reviews" (9/4/2018 12:00:00 AM)

About the Author

John H. Evans is Professor of Sociology at the University of California, San Diego.