A recent study published in Psychology of religion and spirituality explored the relationship between belief systems and perceptions of science and religion. It found that individuals with strong religious beliefs tend to view science and religion as compatible, while those who strongly believe in science are more likely to perceive conflict. These findings offer new insights into how different meaning systems shape people’s understanding of the relationship between these two domains.
The relationship between science and religion has been a subject of debate for centuries. Some see them as complementary ways of understanding the world, while others see them as fundamentally opposed. Previous studies have often focused on contexts where science and religion are directly compared or juxtaposed, leaving unanswered questions about how belief in one influences perceptions of their compatibility independent of the other.
Researchers have sought to fill this gap by examining the extent to which belief in science and religion, as distinct meaning systems, predicts perceptions of science-religion compatibility or conflict. By recruiting participants from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds, the researchers sought to better understand how these beliefs interact in different contexts.
“My main research interest lies in understanding how people find meaning and make sense of reality,” said the study author. Natalia Zarzecznaassistant professor of psychology at the University of Essex. “I see science and religion as systems of meaning that can each contribute to finding meaning by answering epistemic questions (what are the origins of the universe?) and existential questions (does life have meaning? ?). I am interested in understanding how people create worldviews based on science and religion to explain reality, the extent to which these worldviews have the capacity to provide different types of meaning, and whether they conflict.
The study included 684 participants from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Kazakhstan. These countries were chosen because of their varying levels of religiosity and cultural backgrounds: the United Kingdom and the Netherlands are predominantly secular with Christian minorities, while Kazakhstan is a majority Muslim nation.
Participants completed an online survey designed to measure their belief in science and their religious beliefs as independent constructs. Belief in science was assessed through participants’ agreement with statements about the reliability and completeness of science as a means of understanding reality, without explicitly comparing it to religion. Similarly, religious belief was measured through self-reported religiosity, focusing on participants’ personal faith and spiritual practices without reference to science.
To assess perceptions of science-religion compatibility, participants rated the extent to which they viewed the two as harmonious or contradictory, particularly regarding existential and ontological questions, such as the origins of life and the universe.
Across all countries, participants with stronger religious beliefs were more likely to perceive science and religion as compatible. This association persisted regardless of participants’ level of belief in science, suggesting that religious individuals often integrate scientific principles into their worldview without viewing them as a threat to their faith.
In contrast, a stronger belief in science was associated with perceptions of conflict between science and religion. Participants who viewed science as the best way to know tended to view religious beliefs as incompatible with scientific principles. This discovery reflects the different epistemological foundations of the two systems: science relies on empirical evidence and natural laws, while religion often incorporates supernatural explanations.
“Religious people can combine multiple sources of meaning and use both science and religion to find meaning in their lives,” Zarzeczna told PsyPost. “Believers in science apparently only use science and perhaps seek other sources of meaning elsewhere. »
Interestingly, the association between belief in science and perceived conflict was stronger in more secular countries like the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, while the association between religious belief and compatibility was particularly pronounced in the predominantly Muslim context of Kazakhstan.
Zarzeczna also pointed out “an interesting contradiction.” Researchers found that people with strong religious beliefs were more likely to view science and religion as compatible. However, they also found that stronger religious beliefs were linked to weaker belief in science.
“Even though religious believers, in both Christian and Muslim contexts, strongly believe in the compatibility between science and religion, they also show little confidence in science as a means of understanding reality,” Zarzeczna explained. “This is counterintuitive, because believing in science-religion compatibility should logically arise from a combination of equally positive (or negative) attitudes toward each. It is possible that being able to combine two sources of meaning, science and religion, reduces the perceived usefulness of each as a good way to understand reality.
The researchers controlled for age, gender, education level, political orientation, spirituality, religious upbringing, religious orthodoxy, years of formal education and scientific knowledge. However, like all research, this study has some caveats.
“We looked at only one aspect of attitudes toward science – belief in science as the best way to understand reality – to examine how this contributes to beliefs of science-religion compatibility,” a noted Zarzeczna. “Although it is likely that other aspects of scientific attitudes (e.g., scientific optimism) are associated with conflicting beliefs to the same extent as belief in science, it is important to address this issue directly in future research.”
“Moreover, our study does not explain why religious believers and science believers have divergent views on the relationship between science and religion. It would be interesting to test what psychological needs or motivations, beyond sociocultural influences, contribute to these perceptions of compatibility and incompatibility.
Nevertheless, by exploring these dynamics in diverse cultural and religious contexts, the research opens new avenues for understanding how individuals reconcile – or fail to reconcile – different ways of knowing. Future studies can build on this work to investigate the psychological and cultural factors that shape perceptions of compatibility and conflict.
“Using unobtrusive physiological methods measuring arousal, free from self-report bias, we attempt to determine whether and to what extent perceptions of science-religion compatibility constitute an important worldview for religious individuals are motivated to defend their compatibility view when threatened.” » said Zarzeczna.
“If readers are interested in learning more about the relationship between science and religion, we review the most recent literature on this topic in a book chapter in the Handbook of the Science of Existential Psychology which will be published in 2025: Zarzeczna, N. & Haimila, R. (2025). Science and religion: meaning-making tools competing to explain the world. KE Vail, III, et al. (ed.). Handbook of the Science of Existential Psychology.”
The study, “The feeling is not mutual: religious belief predicts compatibility between science and religion, but scientific belief predicts conflict”, was written by Natalia Zarzeczna, via email to the author, Jesse L. Preston, Adil Samekin, Carlotta Reinhardt, Aidos Bolatov, Zukhra Mussinova, Urazgali Selteyev, Gulmira Topanova and Bastiaan T. Rutjens.