Last night, my wife took me to a gospel concert commemorating the 9/11 World Trade Center tragedy.I hadn't been to church in a while, and the atmosphere moved me – almost to tears. As we left, I wondered why I had been so affected. Then I realized that it was the first time in a while that I had been in a room of people who held the same beliefs as I did. You see, I was raised as a Christian in an African-Methodist Episcopal church. I have yet to meet someone in a laboratory with the same religious background.
Most of the folks I've known in science are atheists or agnostics, so I've always been in the minority. As we live in a time of extremism, I am careful not to talk about my faith in the lab for fear of being lumped in with fundamentalists. However, my time as the lone ‘believer’ has made me wonder, “Is science hostile to religion?”.
Religion and science are, by nature, antithetical ideals – one requiring proof, the other, faith. So it makes sense that people are often at odds over them. I still wonder, though, if my belief will work against me on the scientific career track. Will some people think I am not an objective or serious scientist because of my beliefs? If so, amen (so be it)! I will let my data speak for me, and hope that everything else will fall into place.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cunningham, T. The science of religion. Nature 431, 722 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nj7009-722a
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nj7009-722a
This article is cited by
-
A dose of reality
Nature (2004)