Science and Religions in America: A New Look

164 Pages·2022·3.413 MB·English

by  Greg Cootsona

Science and Religions in
America
What is religion? What is science? How do they interact with each
other? Science and Religions in America: A New Look ofers a cutting-edge
overview of the diverse range of religious traditions and their complex
and fascinating interaction with science. Pluralistic in scope, the book
is diferent from traditional Christian and/or monotheistic approaches
to studying the rich interplay of religion and science in multi-religious
American culture.
Featuring interviews with specialists in the feld, Greg Cootsona draws
on their insights to provide a comprehensive, accessible, and engaging
introduction to the challenging interrelationship of religion and science.
Each chapter focuses on a diferent religion within the United States,
covering Buddhism, Christianity, Nature Religions, Islam, Judaism,
Hinduism, and the Spiritual but Not Religious (SBNR).
Global religious traditions and their inextricable relationship with
science and technology are examined in an accessible and interactive format.
With “lightning round Q&As,” contributions from leading thinkers, and
suggestions for further reading, this book primes undergraduate students
for studying the interchange of science and religions (in the plural)
and is an exciting new resource for those interested in these topics in
contemporary America.
Greg Cootsona is Lecturer in Comparative Religion and Humanities
at California State University, Chico, USA. His most recent book is
Negotiating Science and Religion in America: Past, Present, and Future (2019).

Science and Religions in
America
A New Look
Greg Cootsona
Designed cover image: Getty images—m-gucci #665875630
First published 2023
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Greg Cootsona
The right of Greg Cootsona to be identifed as author of this work
has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifcation and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-032-10211-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-10212-2 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-21423-6 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003214236
Typeset in Bembo
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
To my past, present, and future science and
religions students and to many others who share
their interests

Contents
1 Why and how I think you should read this
book—a bit of a roadmap 1
One thing I’m not trying to do 2
On a crash course with the study of religion 3
Quick and dirty defnitions 5
Three—not four—ways to relate science and religion 5
The present moment in science 7
Final thoughts 8
Suggestions for further reading 9
2 Complex and frequently misunderstood:
Christianity and science 12
Introducing Christianity: a lightning round Q & A 13
Ted Peters: scholar and guide for this chapter 14
Two initial caveats 14
A little bit of history 15
Faith and reason 16
Creation and evolution 17
CSR and the origins of belief 19
The Big Bang 20
Fine-tuning 21
Technology and Christianity 23
Science and Christian ethics 25
Final thoughts 26
Suggestions for further reading 26
viii Contents
3 Streaming science and spirituality: The Spiritual
but Not Religious 29
Introducing SBNRs: another lightning round Q & A 30
Discussing SBNRs and science with Elaine Howard
Ecklund 31
How SBNR came to be 32
The connection with emerging adulthood 33
How technology formed SBNR spirituality 35
Streaming life, science, and spirituality 36
Good ole American individualism 37
Ethics are not peripheral 38
On technology, SBNR, and transhumanism 39
Approaching science and religion as an SBNR 40
Certainly not scriptural literalists 41
Final thoughts 42
Suggestions for further reading 43
4 More than mindfulness: Buddhism and science 47
Introducing Buddhism: the lightning round Q & A 48
Daniel Veidlinger guides our journey 50
Caveats 50
Neuroscience, consciousness, and mindfulness 52
Testing for truth 54
On nothingness and physics 55
An interlude: Buddhism and Big Bang 56
Digital Buddhism 57
Evolution and the ethics of ahimsa 58
Final thoughts 59
Suggestions for further reading 60
5 The way of interconnection: Science and
nature religions 64
Introducing nature religions: the lightning round Q & A 65
Learning from Sarah Pike on nature religions 67
No specifc words 67
Ethics as a starter 69
The method of story 70
The spiritualization of science 74
Contents ix
Questions that fascinate me 75
Final thoughts 76
Suggestions for further reading 77
6 Extraordinary infuence: Judaism and science 80
Introducing Judaism: the lightning round Q & A 80
The scholar for this chapter: Geofrey Mitelman 83
Orthopraxy 83
Formed by history 84
Learning through debate 85
A fexible family 86
The God who creates 87
The spectrum of belief among Jewish scientists 88
The particular case of evolution 90
Technology and Judaism 92
Final thoughts 93
Suggestions for further readings 94
7 Creation and the oneness of God: Islam and science 97
Introducing Islam: the lightning round Q & A 98
Yunus Dogan Telliel and Nidhal Guessoum accompany us 99
History matters then and now 100
Key terms and natural theology 101
The Quran and science 102
The Quran and creation 105
The particular case of scientifc tafsir 106
Islam and evolution 108
Technology and transhumanism 109
Science, ethics, and Islam 110
Final thoughts 111
Suggestions for further reading 111
8 Connections both old and new: Hinduism
and science 115
Introducing Hinduism: one last lightning round Q & A 116
Two scholars for this chapter: Victoria Price and Vijaya
Nagarajan 118
History of Hinduism, history of science 119