1st Edition

International Perspectives on Science, Culture, and Belief From Complexity to Globality

Edited By Fern Elsdon-Baker, Stephen H. Jones, James Riley Copyright 2026
290 Pages 16 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

Public understanding of the relationship between science and religion is dominated by US and UK perspectives and research that has been carried out in Western Protestant Anglophone contexts. This has enabled a culturally specific narrative of conflict to dominate public discussions of evolution, science, and religion, obscuring the varied cultural contexts and complexities within which engagement... Read more

List of Contributors
Acknowledgements


1. Introduction: From Complexity to Globality
Fern Elsdon-Baker, Stephen H. Jones, and James Riley


PART ONE: CONTEXT

2. Contending with Complexity: The Challenges of Global Histories of Evolution and Religion
Joel Barnes, Alexander Hall, Bernard Lightman and Will Mason-Wilkes

3. Contending with Empire: Colonial Intersections in the Historiography of Science and Religion
Sarah Qidwai and Nathan Bossoh


PART TWO: COUNTRY CASE STUDIES

4. Argentina: A Narrative of Conflict Confined to Niches
Arturo Fitz Herbert, Reynaldo Rivera, and Sol Barbera

5. Religion and Science in Australia’s Creationist Heartland
Thomas Aechtner and Ryan Williams

6. Conflict on the Margins of a Secular Public: Science and Religion in Germany
Tom Kaden and Amrei Sander  

7. When Evolution Is Not a Problem: Exploring Religion and Science Debates in Contemporary Spain
Cecília Delgado-Molina, Rafael Cazarin, and Mar Griera

8. Science, Religion, and Evolution in a Context of Religious Pluralism: The Case of Sri Lanka
Siri Hettige, Mohamed Mahees, Mahesh Premarathna, Luxshe Hariharan, Avanka Fernando, and H. Unnathi S. Samaraweera

9. The Cultural Life of the Science/Religion Conflict Thesis After ‘New Atheism’: The Case of the United Kingdom
Stephen H. Jones

10. Science and Religion in Middle America: Agreement and Diversity
Rebecca Catto

PART THREE: CROSS-CULTURAL ANALYSIS

11. Where the Conflict Really Lies: Quantitatively Locating Evolution Conflicts Internationally
James Riley and Fern Elsdon-Baker

12. Comparability vs. Relevance, and the Related Methodological Hurdles: Exploring Perceptions of Science and Religion Across Countries from a Psychological Perspective
Carissa A. Sharp, Carola Leicht, and Rebecca E. Hughes


PART FOUR: NEW HORIZONS IN THE STUDY OF SCIENCE, CULTURE, AND BELIEF

13. Culture, Politics, and Economy as Mediators of the Science and Religion Relationship in Africa
Bankole Adebayo Falade

14. Sciencey-Spirituality, Neoliberalism, and Eco-Anxiety in Australia
Anna Halafoff, Ruth Fitzpatrick, and Andrew Singleton


Coda: From Complexity to Globality
Fern Elsdon-Baker, Stephen H. Jones, and James Riley


Index

Biography

Fern Elsdon-Baker is Professor of Science, Knowledge and Belief in Society at the University of Birmingham. She was PI of ‘Science and Religion: Exploring the Spectrum’ projects between 2014 and 2023 and previously Head of ‘Darwin Now’, the British Council’s international celebration of the life and work of Charles Darwin.

Stephen H. Jones is Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Sociology at Keele University. He was Co-PI of ‘Science and Religion: Exploring the Spectrum: A Global Perspective’ and is Co-PI and Co-Director of the International Research Network for the Study of Science and Belief in Society. His publications include Science, Belief and Society (eds. with Tom Kaden and Rebecca Catto, 2019).

James Riley is a mixed-methods researcher with interests in science communication, science and society, and science and belief. Between 2019 and 2023, he worked on the quantitative strand of the 'Science and Religion: Exploring the Spectrum of Global Perspectives' project, hosted at the University of Birmingham with partner institutions internationally.