Abstract

When religion and science are in conflict, who supports religion? Using data from 71 diverse societies in the World Values Survey (n = 120,728), this study assesses the relative predictive strength of science optimism, moral concerns about science, religiosity, and religious exclusivism. Perhaps counterintuitively, science beliefs (science optimism, in particular) are weak predictors of the outcome, even in wealthy societies with high levels of scientific productivity. In contrast, believing that only one’s religion is acceptable is the strongest predictor of choosing religion over science; this is generally consistent across religious groups, regions, and specific countries/territories. These findings suggest that making the public more aware of major scientific advances will not, by itself, increase the cultural authority of science—especially if it is explicitly contested by another influential social institution. The implications for social scientific theories of modernization and secularization are discussed.

摘要

当宗教与科学发生冲突时，谁支持宗教？在世界价值观调查中使用来自 71 个不同社会的数据（n = 120,728），本研究评估了科学乐​​观主义、对科学的道德担忧、宗教信仰和宗教排他主义的相对预测强度。或许与直觉相反，科学信念（尤其是科学乐观主义）对结果的预测能力较弱，即使在科学生产力水平很高的富裕社会也是如此。相比之下，相信只有一个人的宗教是可以接受的，是选择宗教而不是科学的最强预测因素。这在宗教团体、地区和特定国家/地区之间通常是一致的。这些发现表明，让公众更多地了解重大科学进步本身并不会增加科学的文化权威——尤其是当它受到另一个有影响力的社会机构的明确质疑时。