Students secularized by inquiry, not science

Started by Hydra009, May 15, 2021, 07:55:03 PM

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Hydra009

QuoteThe study, published April 29 in Sociology of Religion, found that while 11% of students in inquiry-based majors such as philosophy become more secular, only 8% of students in majors that apply knowledge, such as education, do.

QuoteThe traditional claim that studying science leads to loss of religiosity stems from the idea that science and religion have different views on the natural world and its development - systems that people claim are incompatible
https://academictimes.com/studying-science-isnt-what-makes-students-less-religious/

I dunno if such a slight difference - 8% versus 11% - is truly a refutation of that claim.

What's more, it seems to broadly support the claim since studying the fruits of science (i.e. the facts of the world) doesn't make as much of a dent as the methodology of science which is philosophical in nature (empiricism VS dogmatism).  So, a simple recitation of facts - how many bones are in the human bony and what they're called - obviously won't have as much of an effect as showing how scientific questions are approached and ultimately solved - like showing a student the thought process that lead to the theory of evolution.

It appears that delivering education as "science says X" is less secularizing than "here's how we investigated and arrived at the conclusion of X", which makes intuitive sense.

QuoteThe college majors with the highest effect on secularization were women's studies, anthropology, physics, and philosophy, while the majors with the lowest effect were physical education, nursing, theology, and kinesiology.  Pre-law studies ranked the absolute worst.
*low-hanging lawyer joke*