Religion Does Not Prevent Trust in Science, but Non-Religious People Think it Does

How does religion influence attitudes towards science? Some theories claim that religion encourages conflict with science by narrowing people’s worldviews, whereas others claim that religious people combine insights from science and religion to understand the world. We reconcile these perspectives with a new model of science and religion, drawn from goal systems theory, that makes two key hypotheses. Studies 1-2 test a compatibility hypothesis that religious people should perceive less conflict between science and religion than non-religious people. We support this hypothesis in the U.S. (Study 1) and in a 38-nation sample (Study 2). Studies 3-6 test an instrumentality hypothesis that religious people should view science and religion as each moderately instrumental, whereas non-religious people should view science as extremely instrumental and religion as not at all instrumental. We support this hypothesis by analyzing how people explain extraordinary phenomena (Study 3), answer “life’s big questions” (Study 4), and avoid infection during COVID-19 (Study 5). Our studies also show that non-religious people underestimate religious people’s trust in science, and view science and religion as more mutually exclusive than do religious people (Study 6). These studies challenge claims about tensions between religion and science, and reconcile seemingly contradictory findings from past research. Religious people may be more open to science than non-religious people think.