Learning about Science and Religion


Science is one of the three 'core' subjects in the National Curriculum, and considered to be an essential part of school learning. Students also learn about major world faiths in Religious Studies, and students in UK schools may be a member of any one of a wide range of faiths, and denominations, or none at all.

Scientists vary in their religious beliefs - some being devout believers, others being convinced atheists, and still others having less certain positions.

Yet there is a popular conception that science and religion are necessarily in opposition, such that a person of strong religious faith would find it difficult to be a scientist, and conversely that scientists cannot believe in God. In an educational context this has often been seen exemplified in debates about the teaching of evolution, where (a) the widely accepted scientific ideas are inconsistent with a literal reading of some holy texts and (b) some religious groups campaign against the teaching of natural selection as 'the' scientifically supported view of the origins of the wide range of living things found on earth. Of course, this can lead to a simplistic understanding, as evolution by natural selection is not necessarily inconsistent with religious faith, and indeed many scientists of different world religions have no difficulty with accepting the scientific model. Natural selection, and other scientific theories such as the 'big bang' theory of the beginning of the universe are inconsistent with the beliefs held by some people of faith, but by no means all.


Why is this an important issue?

There are a number of reasons why this issue deserves serious attention. These include:

1. When science is presented as opposed to religion this may be linked with notions of science as the means to reliable knowledge, whereas religion is based on superstition or cultural tradition. Yet we know that for many school children science is not considered as a source of provisional knowledge that is based on theories supported by interpreting evidence in particular ways (and usually 'quarantining' a good many anomalies that could be considered as counter evidence and potential sources of refutation), but rather is taken to be a set of hypotheses that are tested by experiment and so become theories with the status of proven fact. Philosophers have argued for centuries how it is possible that our knowledge can be both fallible and reliable. Teaching students about this aspect of the nature of science (i.e. 'how science works') is one of the biggest challenges facing school science teachers. There is a need for evidence-informed pedagogy that teachers can adopt.
2. Many religious people consider that their faith is as evidence-based and ground in personally verified knowledge as their beliefs about the 'natural' world. So to dismiss religious ideas as simply due to superstition or culturally transmitted folk-beliefs does not explain why many rational, critical and intelligent people - including many successful scientists - have faith in God, and so is an unhelpful view to present to students.
3. Given that many students will have faith, or will at least be located in family and cultural contexts that are encouraging them to adopt faith positions, then any suggestion that there has to be a choice between science and religion is likely to lead to students either rejecting science as a basis for future study or possible careers, or feeling that a choice of science entails a necessary tension with their family and cultural identify. This could have negative effects on both motivation in school science and uptake of further science studies later.

Exploring learning about science and religion

These issues will be explored in a new research project, the LASAR (learning about science and religion) project.




The LASAR project is being carried out under the auspices of the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion (based at St Edmund's College, Cambridge), supported by a grant from the charitable John Templeton Foundation

Director of the Faraday Institute: Dr Denis Alexander
Project team
Principal Investigator: Dr Berry Billingsley
Researchers: Fran Riga, Helen Newdick
Consultant: Dr Keith S Taber

The project is concerned with how school age students (i.e. 11-18 year olds) understand the relationship between science and religion, and how teachers can support student learning about the nature of scientific knowledge about the natural world, and different positions that scientists can take about how their scientific work relates to religious convictions.



“A lot of scientists write religion off, and most of them are atheists”: One Y9 student's perceptions of the relationship between science and religion


Science teaching and creationism in UK schools




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