Grant Initiative

Rice University and the University of California, San Diego are pleased to announce a $2.9 million re-granting initiative. The “Science and Religion: Identity and Belief Formation” project specifically funds sociological research that empirically examines how identities and beliefs are related to science and religion.

This project, which is one of three social science projects underway, has been designed to provide support for new scholarship in the sociology of science and religion. The project, led by Elaine Howard Ecklund (Rice University) and John H. Evans (University of California, San Diego), is funded through the Templeton Religion Trust and coordinated by The Issachar Fund.

There are 17 research projects underway. We are also supporting two graduate students and one postdoctoral fellow under the auspices of this grant.

Projects

Featured

Donor Bodies, Medical Schools, and the Scientific Sacred

Amy Lawton, Ph.D. Candidate in Sociology, University of Connecticut

How Congregational Participation Shapes the Science Education Outcomes of Latino Youth

Esmeralda Sanchez Salazar, Ph.D. Candidate in Sociology, Rice University

Atheist Churches and AI Utopias: Repurposing Religious Means for Secular Ends

Jacqueline Frost, Postdoctoral Fellow, Religion and Public Life Program, Rice University

Religious Identities, Beliefs, and the Moral Meanings of Science and Religion in the United States

Shiri Noy, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Denison University
Timothy L. O’Brien, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

A Capital-Driven Science? Religion and Science in For-Profit Tech Companies

Di Di, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Santa Clara University

The Religion and Science in State Legislatures Study

David R. Johnson, Associate Professor of Higher Education, Georgia State University

Protecting Sacred Waters: Mobilizing Indigenous and Western Meanings of Science and Spirituality in the Battle over Line 3

Wes Markofski, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Carleton College

Religion, Science, and the Enchanted Worldview

Christopher P. Scheitle, Associate Professor of Sociology, West Virginia University
Katie E. Corcoran, Associate Professor of Sociology, West Virginia University

Science and the Transmission of Islamic Knowledge in Britain

Stephen H. Jones, Lecturer, University of Birmingham, U.K.

Science, Religion, and the Spirits: on Health, Healing and Islam in Morocco

Z. Fareen Parvez, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Massachusetts-Amherst

Black Faith, Bodies, Mother Mortality and COVID-19: A Response to Religion, Science and Medicine

Nichole Renee Phillips, Associate Professor in the Practice of Sociology of Religion and Culture, Emory University

Religious, Irreligious, Immigrant: Young Turkish Women’s Identities and Perceptions of Religion, Science, and Morality

M. Alper Yalcinkaya, Associate Professor of Sociology, Ohio Wesleyan University

Nuanced Understandings of Science Among Mormons

Ryan T. Cragun, Professor of Sociology, The University of Tampa

Americans’ Understanding of the Relationship Between Science and Religion: Finding Common Ground

Paul DiMaggio, Professor of Sociology, New York University

Where Science Ends and Religion Begins: The Human Body

Elaine Howard Ecklund, Professor of Sociology, Rice University

Religious Values and Human Enhancement: A Study of Engineers and the Public

John H. Evans, Professor of Sociology, University of California, San Diego

Learning about Science and Religion Online: Who, What, Where, How?

Eszter Hargittai, Professor and Chair of Internet Use and Society, University of Zurich