[escepticos] Más sociologos religiosos que físicos

[Claudio Andrés Uribe <uribe_claudio@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

   Según una investigación realizada por sociólogos de la Universidad de
Rice, es mayor la probabilidad de que los de sociales sean religiosos, esto
es que crean en Dios y asistan a misa los domingos, que lo sea un científico
natural. La encuesta se hizo entre 1650 miembros de destacadas universidades
dedicadas a la investigación y aproximadamente el 38 por ciento de los
"duros" entrevistados dijeron no creer en Dios, pero sólo coincidieron con
esa respuesta el 31 por ciento de los blandos. (Vamos, que la diferencia no
es tanta, hasta quizá quede sumergida en el error)
   http://media.rice.edu/media/NewsBot.asp?MODE=VIEW&ID=7583&SnID=509948177
   
   "Based on previous research, we thought that social scientists would be
less likely to practice religion than natural scientists are, but our data
showed just the opposite," said Elaine Howard Ecklund, a postdoctoral fellow
in the Department of Sociology at Rice. She will present the preliminary
results of her study Aug. 14 at the annual meeting of the Association for
the Sociology of Religion in Philadelphia.
   
   "Science is often perceived as incompatible with religion and
spirituality, but few have asked how scientists themselves think about
religion," Ecklund said.   "So I wanted to examine how academic scientists
in the natural and social sciences understand the relationship of religion
and spirituality to topics ranging from developing a research agenda to
ethical decisions involving human subjects and interactions with students."
   
   With a $283,000 grant from the Templeton Foundation, Ecklund mailed $15
and a request to participate in a 10-minute on-line survey to 2,148 faculty
at 21 of the top U.S. research universities.   She phoned those who did not
take the survey to give them a chance to answer questions by phone.   After
seven weeks, more than 1,600 had completed the survey either on-line or by
phone.   The final response rate of 75 percent was "quite high" for social
science research, Ecklund said.  
   
   The 36 questions on the survey examined a variety of topics, including
religious beliefs, participation in religious services, spiritual practices,
and the intersection of spiritual beliefs and research ethics.
   
   When Ecklund compared faculty in the natural science disciplines of
physics, chemistry and biology with those in the social science disciplines
of sociology, psychology, political science and economics, she found
"distinct frameworks" for the ways in which they view religion and
spirituality as well as how they make ethical decisions related to their
research.
   
   Nearly 38 percent of natural scientists surveyed said they did not
believe in God, but only 31 percent of the social scientists gave that
response.
   
   Among each of the two general groups, one discipline stood out: Forty-one
percent of the biologists and 27 percent of the political scientists said
they don't believe in God.
   
   "Now we must examine the nature of these differences," Ecklund said.
"Many scientists see themselves as having a spirituality not attached to a
particular religious tradition. Some scientists who don't believe in God see
themselves as very spiritual people.   They have a way outside of themselves
that they use to understand the meaning of life."
   
   Ecklund and colleagues are in the process of conducting longer interviews
with some of the participants to explore issues in more depth.   About 250
to 300 of the respondents will be selected randomly from those who completed
the survey to participate in hour-long interviews conducted in person or by
phone.   They will be asked about deeper topics, such as the meaning of
life, their understanding of the importance of religious beliefs in their
lives and the perception of conflict between religion and science.
   
   The in-depth interviews should be completed within a year, and then
Ecklund plans to analyze the results and summarize her findings in a book as
well as in several journal articles.
   
   The Association for the Sociology of Religion (ASR) is an international
scholarly association with more than 800 members around the world. The ASR
promotes empirical study and social criticism related to the social
teachings of religion.
   __________________________
   Claudio Andrés Uribe
   Buenos Aires, Argentina







___________________________________________________________
1GB gratis, Antivirus y Antispam
Correo Yahoo!, el mejor correo web del mundo
http://correo.yahoo.com.ar