Science and Religion in (Global) Public Life: A Sociological Perspective

FOR the last fifteen years, I have devoted my life as a sociologist to understanding what scientists and religious people around the globe think about the interface between science and religion.1 I have done so because both religion and science are enormously significant in our social world. Over 5.8 billion individuals identify as religious—this accounts for nearly 85 percent of the global population—and many of those who do not identify as religious think of themselves as possessing some form of spirituality (Pew Research Center 2012; Ecklund and Di Di 2018).2 Religious institutions remain among the most significant ones in the world (Jurgensmeyer 2010; Prothero 2010). Religious belonging and identity shape families and friendships (Edgell 2006; Olson 2019), influence law and politics (Bonikowski and DiMaggio 2016), and provide existential security to people on every continent and across different eras (Berger 1990; Grillo 2011). Science is similarly significant. Over the past two centuries, medical and nutritional advances have nearly doubled the average human life span, more so in some societies than others (Roser 2019). Among Organization