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BLACK PROTESTANT VIEWS OF SCIENCE

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2019

Cleve Tinsley IV ,
Pamela J. Prickett  and
Elaine Howard Ecklund
Cleve Tinsley IV*
Affiliation:
Department of Religion, Rice University
Pamela J. Prickett
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, University of Amsterdam
Elaine Howard Ecklund
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Rice University
*
*Corresponding author: Cleve Tinsley IV, Department of Religion, Rice University, 6100 Main Street - MS 15, Houston, TX 77005-1892. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

We ask how Black Protestants frame the connection between religion and science, analyzing fifty in-depth interviews with Black Protestants of different socioeconomic backgrounds who attend churches in two U.S. cities. Although individuals across the sample observe some tension, or incompatibility, between religion and science, Black Protestants from lower socioeconomic backgrounds tended to perceive much more tension when compared with those from higher socioeconomic backgrounds. However, when science is thought to contribute to improving health conditions (e.g., medical improvements to diagnose or prevent birth defects), individuals from both SES backgrounds framed religion and science as compatible. This lack of tension in regards to medicine challenges prevailing wisdom about lower-income African Americans’ attitudes towards medicine. We draw out the implications of these findings for larger discussions about trust toward science and scientific communities, elucidating Black Protestant particularities and perspectives in tensions between science and religion as a foundation for further research.

Keywords

Black ProtestantsScienceEvangelicalsSocioeconomic StatusReligion
Type
State of the Art
Information
Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , Fall 2018 , pp. 533 - 546
Copyright
Copyright © Hutchins Center for African and African American Research 2019 

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