The Faithful Scientist - by Christopher P Scheitle

About the Book

"The Faithful Scientist uses engaging interview and survey data to reveal the unique perceptions, experiences, and challenges of religious individuals pursuing an advanced education and career in science"--

Book Synopsis

Reveals biases within scientific PhD training programs against emerging scientists who embrace a religious faith and the ramifications for science

Science is often viewed as antithetical to religion, and it is true that scientists, particularly those who work at universities, are generally much less religious than the average American adult. So what is it like to be a religious individual pursuing an advanced education and career in science?

Featuring engaging interviews and survey data from over 1,300 PhD students in the natural and social sciences, The Faithful Scientist shows that the core challenge is not contending with contradictions between faith-based beliefs and scientific knowledge. Instead, it is the bias budding scientific practitioners face from their colleagues if they are religious.

These dynamics are important for science as a field, and ultimately for those who engage with or benefit from the results of scientific research. There are real benefits to fostering diversity in science, which may lead to more useful discoveries for populations who have generally not been the focus of research. And women, Black, and Latina/o people tend in general to be more religious than their white male peers, meaning that diversifying the gender, ethnic, and racial composition of the scientific workforce likely requires diversifying the religious composition too. This book offers vital empirical data that provide insight into what it means to support and foster religious diversity in science.

Review Quotes

"Tightly argued and well researched ... this book makes an excellent case for why scientists who really believe that a diversity of life experience can enrich our work should care about this kind of diversity, as well."-- "Social Forces"

"Scheitle's work offers an important contribution to the social scientific study of religion and critical analysis of religion's larger role in shaping contemporary scientific inquiry and academic institutions."-- "Reading Religion"

"Compellingly illustrates how religion and science are sources of social identity that shape aspiring scientists' career paths in numerous ways. Scheitle deftly shows how graduate students reconcile religious belief with the supposed radical secularism of organized science."--Timothy O'Brien, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

"This accessible and well-researched study of those who are both scientists and people of faith will be a vital resource for specialists who study religion and science."--John H. Evans, Tata Chancellor's Chair of Social Science, University of California, San Diego