A topic in teaching science
An authentic science education asks learners to both learn about some specific scientific ideas and also to learn something of the nature of science – the practices of scientists and the processes by which new scientific knowledge is constructed and developed. There are a number of nature of science (sometimes abbreviated to 'NOS') themes that might be thought important to teach young people about.
Read more about teaching the nature of science
One area where there has been much debate is the question of if, and how science relates to religion. This is going to be a nuanced topic both because science has changed over time as it has developed, and more significantly because there are many religions and they differ considerably in the extent to which they might be seen to compete with science over areas of interest, or even offer apparently contrary claims.
What has science got to do with religion?
Some would say that science has absolutely nothing to do with religion – that these are two totally separate areas of activity (and scholarship), and should be kept completely apart in educational systems. However, there are some important considerations that suggest science educators should consider the relationship (or lack of relationship) between science and religion needs to be considered.
In particular, some scientists do see a strong relationship between these two areas, along the lines that religion represents a less sophisticated and developed way of engaging with and understanding the world, that has since been succeeded by science. In effect, science has replaced/is replacing religion as a powerful way of making sense of the world. Some of those who think that way understandably believe that this view should be reflected in education.
"…I maintain that the cosmic religious feeling is the strongest and noblest motive for scientific research."
Albert Einstein, 1930
In contrast, however, there are many scientists who are religious. They not only do not see an opposition between science and religion, but believe they are complementary ways of being in, and making sense of, the world. For some of these scientists, science and religion are harmonious. Many of those known for helping establish modern science were devoutly religious. 1
Others appreciate that science and religion may not always seem to be consistent, but think that this is because of our imperfect perspectives and knowledge, and that actively exploring apparent tensions is useful as it leads us to a more enlightened position.
(There are plenty of other scientists who either have no strong views on religion and are happy for science to 'live and let live' neither opposing, nor seeking any kind of dialogue with, religion.)
Given that a fair proportion of people alive today, and so children in schools, identify as religious, and given that the views that religion undermines science and/or science has disproved/replaced religion are often presented in popular media, there is clearly an important theme here for science education if some young people feel that a choice to go into science might require them to turn their back on their faith, their family beliefs, their community traditions… This was a motivation for the LASAR (Learning about Science and Religion) project.
Read about the LASAR project
For example:
"The tradition in Western science (with its tendencies towards an analytical and reductionist approach) to precede as though the existence and potential role of God in nature is irrelevant to answering scientific questions, if not explicitly explained to students, may well give the impression that because science (as a socio-cultural activity) does not need to adopt the hypothesis of the divine, scientists themselves (as individuals sharing membership of various social groups with their identities as scientists) eschew such an idea." (Taber, 2013)
Work cited:
- Einstein, Albert (1930/1994), Religion and science. In Ideas and Opinions, New York: The Modern Library.
- Taber, K. S. (2013). Conceptual frameworks, metaphysical commitments and worldviews: the challenge of reflecting the relationships between science and religion in science education. In N. Mansour & R. Wegerif (Eds.), Science Education for Diversity: Theory and practice (pp. 151-177). Dordrecht: Springer. [Download manuscript version]
Note
1 Historically, many famous scientists were very religious (Isaac Newton, Micahel Faraday and many others) and a common stance encouraged many religious people to study the 'book of nature', seen as God's works, alongside the books seen as God's words – scripture.
Einstein – believer, or atheist?
Whilst this attitude was perhaps most common in the 17th-19th centuries, the most famous scientist of the C.20th claimed to be a religous man. Interestingly, Albert Einstein is both often claimed to be a religous scientist and also a non-religous, even atheistic, scientist. He himself was quite clear that he was strongly religous, and that indeed it was linked to his work as a scientist, as he thought that the 'cosmic religous feeling' he felt was a key motivation to do scintific research.
Einstein identifed culturally as Jew (and was subject to discrimination in Nazi Germany), but did not adhere to Jewish religous practice. He considered religion to develop through stages. According to Einstein, religion
- started as a repsonse to fear when people did not understand the forces (draughts, earthquates, floods, etc.) that threatened them, and which they posited in gods;
- but later developed into a moral stage concened with principles to support social life guiding people on how to live together, seen as deriving from a supreme, but human-like, being;
- but then there was a third stage that transcended formal regulated religion and was experienced in terms of the order of the universe and the relevance insignificance of the individual human. Einstein thought this stage had moved beyond the need to anthropomophise God as like some perfect spirtiual human.
Some commentators have dismissed this as not really being a religion as it does not involve a creator God of the type recognised in Judaism, Islam and Christianity. They argue that when Einstein talks of God (for example, not playing dice with the universe) this is just a metaphor. However, Buddhism does not have a creator God either, and is also concernd with transcending the invidiaul human experience, and Buddhism is widely considered a religion.
People will interpet Einstein's account of his religion differently, but Einstein himself believed he had religous experiences and that this was strongly connected to his work as a scientist.
