RPLP January 2015 Magazine

Conducting research, training scholars, & offering programs that advance dialogue about religion in the public sphere

Rice University Social Sciences Research Institute Volume 15 - January 2015

LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR

In 2014, the core team of the Religion and Public Life Program (RPLP) traversed the globe—traveling to Milan, Taipei, Hong Kong, and Cambridge. They conducted research interviews, presented at conferences, and hosted 20 esteemed scholars of science and religion as part of an international data release. We are grateful that members of our team have the opportunity to meet researchers from other countries and see other parts of the world while conducting research and promoting our work abroad.

As we begin 2015, our aim is to expand the RPLP in what we think will be very fruitful ways. One area of expansion will be in the number of undergraduates employed per semester and the research opportunities they have, including greater opportunity for international travel. After all, seeing another part of the world and conducting research in an unfamiliar setting can be not only a pedagogical experience but also a moment of personal growth.

In addition to enhancing the undergraduate research experience, we aim to expand our programming arm into the larger Houston community and beyond, host visiting scholars to teach and give lectures at Rice, and engage other faculty members across the social sciences and humanities on collaborative projects. With your continued support, we ultimately hope to grow from a Program to a Center on campus. We are excited for the many developments to come.

Please read on for reports of the many successful events of the past eight months, written by our undergraduate student research fellows, in addition to updates on the progress of our ongoing research. As you will see, we already have a full programming and research lineup for the start of 2015, including events, interview trips, and conferences. We look forward to your continued involvement and engagement in the year ahead.

Thank you for your support of our work.

Warmly,

Elaine Howard Ecklund Founding Director, Religion and Public Life Program Herbert S. Autrey Professor of Sociology

CONTENTS

Religion and Public Life Program Rice University Sociology Department, MS-28 6100 Main Street Houston, TX 77005

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Faith and Leadership

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Policies and Perspectives

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Upcoming Events

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Matter and Meaning: Exploring the Religion and Science Dialogue

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Fertility Gods

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RPLP In the Public Square

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Research Updates

Spirituality, Health, and Well-Being

RELIGION AND PUBLIC LIFE PROGRAM

January 2015

[RPLP EVENt]

Faith and Leadership: A View From the Top ARTICLE BY Abraham Younes • PHOTOS BY Laura Sponaugle

On the evening of May 21, the RPLP hosted Michael Lindsay, president of Gordon College and a former Rice University faculty member, for a public conversation on religion and leadership.

The discussion drew upon Lindsay’s latest book, View From the Top: An Insider Look at How People in Power See and Shape the World, with a particular focus on the ways in which leaders view religion in relation to their personal lives and careers, as well as how they translate those personal understandings to a broader public. During his interviews with business and political leaders across the country, Lindsay consistently found they have a desire to bring their moral convictions to bear on their work. They want to integrate their personal understandings of right and wrong with their interpersonal conduct and decision-making, both inside and outside the boardroom or office.

While these moral convictions do not always match up tidily with religious beliefs, Lindsay found that many executive leaders link their moral framework to their faith tradition.

Lindsay connected this theme of integration to the idea of leaders as “maximizers” who try to capitalize on everything they do to the fullest; he found that those who do not completely fit this model often diverge because of religious or moral convictions. Lindsay pointed to specific religious ideas that often serve as pillars of leadership, especially the notion of sacrifice and its relation to the concept of “servant leadership,” in which a leader’s principal role in an organization is to serve the people within it. According to Lindsay, one way this ethos manifests itself in the actions and decisions of business leaders

is through the great importance some of them place on finding a way to stay in touch with people at all levels of their organization. Lindsay provided the example of an executive who, when visiting the factory floor, had a conversation with an employee who inquired into the executive’s earnings. The executive, upon realizing the dramatic disparity between his earnings and those of the employee, asked at the next board meeting for his compensation to be lowered to a 20:1 ratio, such that he would make no more than 20 times the lowest-paid worker in the company. Lindsay cited this instance as an example of religious and moral convictions shaping a leader’s response, causing him to speak up in a way that he otherwise wouldn’t have.

Lindsay found that across the spectrum of religious affiliations held by business leaders—including those outside the Judeo-Christian tradition— not a single executive out of the more than 500 he interviewed reported that their religious beliefs had been a human relations problem in their workplace interactions or decision-making. This response may indicate that executives see themselves as capable of exercising their personal religious beliefs while also respecting that not everyone in their work environment shares those beliefs. Lindsay also noted a generational difference in how these leaders framed their faith convictions. Leaders in their 70s or older tended toward a “culture war” framework more than younger executives did, seeing people belonging to their own faith tradition as friends and people outside their tradition as enemies.

More than 175 members of the broader Houston community attended the event, and RPLP director Elaine Howard Ecklund served as facilitator, engaging Lindsay with questions submitted by Rice undergraduates before he fielded questions from the audience in an open Q&A. The dialogue took the theme of leadership beyond Lindsay’s book to a diverse range of questions on religious beliefs, moral convictions, and how leaders translate their convictions in the public sphere. As Ecklund noted in her closing remarks, exploring the relationship between religion and leadership enriches the dialogue on religion and public life, aiding both the RPLP and the broader public in understanding the interaction between these two spheres.

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January 2015

[RPLP EVENt]

Spirituality, Health, and BY Well-Being ARTICLE Abraham Younes

On the afternoon of July 30, Dr. Mary Shaw, an associate professor of health promotion and disease prevention at Florida International University, moderated a roundtable discussion on the importance of health and the relationship between health and spirituality. The conversation was hosted by the RPLP and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Department of Integrative Medicine, and participants included leaders from various faith communities across the Houston area. They each presented on the importance of health and well-being within their faith tradition, citing scriptures and bringing up specific health-related practices, beliefs, or attitudes present in their own congregations. Possibilities for connecting the dialogue on spirituality and health with broader engagement efforts in the community were of particular importance throughout the discussion.

Imam Wazir Ali from Mercy Community Center in Houston highlighted the importance of al mizan, the Arabic word for “balance,” in Islamic tradition and tied it to the mind-body connection, noting that physical diseases “are often reflections of spiritual imbalances.” He provided several examples of what he sees as health-friendly aspects of Islamic tradition, including a smoking ban during the day in the month of Ramadan, which can help Muslim smokers “see that they can overcome tobacco addiction if they try hard enough.” He also described the Al Mizan program at Mercy, which offers “nutrition assessments, nutrition counseling, group nutrition education, physical activity education, and tobacco use cessation.”

Dr. Charles Ridley from Texas A&M University offered a Christian viewpoint and focused on a scriptural basis for well-being. Ridley asserted that Christianity “unequivocally promotes health,” and explained how Christian notions of free will and personal responsibility allow individuals to control their own actions in a positive way, despite “God’s sovereignty and power over the universe.” Rabbi Steven M. Gross from the Houston Congregation for Reform Judaism (HCRJ) provided a Jewish perspective, noting that humanity’s creation in the image of God dictates that, “if we are to respect God in our lives, we must also respect our bodies.” Gross also added that a person could “eat kosher and still eat horribly,” pointing out

that it is possible for congregants to follow their faith tradition and still be unhealthy.

Central to the discussion was the possibility of organized efforts to raise awareness of the importance of health and well-being within faith communities. One attendee stressed the importance of helpful language, noting that for health-related information to be conveyed usefully, it needs to “appeal to the common sense person,” employing accessible vocabulary “as opposed to medical or academic jargon.” Since faith leaders have various levels of education and different religious perspectives, it was noted that some of them may first need to be convinced about the importance of health in their faith tradition before they will make health and well-being a more prominent part of congregational life. Several leaders discussed the potential strategy of increasing awareness through the national conferences for their religious traditions.

The event succeeded in promoting dialogue between members of different faith traditions and the medical community on the importance of health and an integrative approach to health and spirituality. Participants were able to learn and grow from one another’s perspectives and channel their knowledge and respective strengths into a model for collective action.

“if we are to respect God in our lives, we must also respect our bodies”

Staff Send-off Julie Aldrich was RPLP Associate Director from September 2013 to October 2014.

Julie’s colleague says: “Julie is a great mentor. She instilled a lot of confidence in me, but was still always more than willing to answer questions and provide feedback.

She taught me a lot about being a professional person. Julie is also an extremely thoughtful and caring person. She goes above and beyond in trying to make others feel welcome, whether in her office or at her home. She is constantly displaying her enormous generosity, whether by showering people with gifts, in her kind words, or in the selfless way that she carries out her personal life—I’ve witnessed her positive impact on many people. She was constantly inspiring me both professionally and personally.”

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RELIGION AND PUBLIC LIFE PROGRAM

[RPLP EVENt]

January 2015

[RESEARCH]

Policies and Perspectives: Implications From the Religion Among Scientists in International Context Study ARTICLE BY Hayley Hemstreet PHOTOS BY Oxford & Cambridge Club

On September 24, a priest of the Orthodox Church, an expert in Islamic studies, a director of a think tank, a historian of science, and several biologists and physicists gathered in the Princess Marie Louise Room at London’s prestigious Oxford and Cambridge Club. Despite their diverse backgrounds, they were drawn together by a common interest: the Religion among Scientists in International Context (RASIC) study.

The U.K. and India results from the study were presented (the research will also include results from the U.S., Turkey, Italy, France, Hong Kong, and Taiwan), based on surveys and indepth interviews with biologists and physicists at the countries’ top research universities and institutes. With so much data to work with, the conference was packed with information: statistics, quotes, and anecdotes coming from the U.K. and India.

Though their familiarity with the research varied—some

Exploring thE implications of rEligion among sciEntists in thE U.K. and india Wednesday, September 24, 2014 London, United Kingdom

served as advisory board members on the study while others had no prior knowledge other than what they gleaned from the invitation—it seemed all attendees came with an open mind and a desire to learn more about the topic. Framing the project for those who were unfamiliar, principal investigator (PI) Elaine Howard Ecklund kicked off the conference by outlining the research questions and methodological procedures before moving on to a statistical overview. While most attendees were likely not surprised to hear that 65% of U.K. scientists identified as non-religious compared with 6% of scientists in India, other pieces of the data were unexpected. For example, in the U.K., where the number of adherents of minority religions is small, the interviews highlighted the impact that minority religious groups—particularly Muslims—are having on U.K. science. Ecklund credits the study’s mixed-methods approach with allowing her to uncover these sorts of findings.

The more substantive, contextual findings came later in the afternoon, when David Johnson and Brandon Vaidyanathan, both postdoctoral research fellows, presented the ways in which religion shapes teaching and research in the scientific workplace in both India and the U.K. Johnson and Vaidyanathan discussed the most prevalent themes that arose from the qualitative data.

One of the patterns they highlighted was the tendency of scientists in a teaching role to negotiate the religious identities of students. As a professor of physics explained, “Religion teaches people to accept things without asking. … And that becomes

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RELIGION AND PUBLIC LIFE PROGRAM

a serious problem in understanding science. And I experience it in my classroom that unless provoked … whatever I say to students is a statement that is like an order. They will just accept it.” Johnson and Vaidyanathan found that in the research role, religion shapes the ethical perspectives of both religious and non-religious British and Indian scientists. A religious professor of biology in India, for example, described how her religious beliefs shape the goals of her research: “If you walk out of campus … you will see a bunch of kids with no clothes on their backs. … So you think immediately, I just spent a million dollars … I better get something out of it which hopefully is useful for somebody in the future.” This quote demonstrated to the attendees, who were largely unfamiliar with the Indian context, a clear distinction between doing scientific work in the U.K. and doing so in India.

At the end of the conference, Ecklund and co-PI Kirstin Matthews presented “ten ways forward” in recognizing common ground between religious and scientific communities globally. “The conflict narrative is overstated,” Ecklund said as her first point, reinforcing her statement with both quantitative and qualitative data. This point circled back to what John Hedley Brooke, an emeritus professor at the University of Oxford, had earlier said during his formal invited response. He encouraged viewing the boundaries between religion and science not on a horizontal plane as in direct conflict, but rather in a vertical sense with no one on one side of the conflict or the other. Instead, Brooke presented the idea, which was later echoed by Ecklund and Matthews, that the relations between religion and science are laid out on a spectrum: There isn’t just one relationship between the two, and this model allows ev-

January 2015

eryone to have a unique set of beliefs.

Each attendee walked away with a tremendous amount of data to absorb and process. Thus, even after a three-hour conference, most attendees stayed for a reception where they could continue to discuss what they had heard that afternoon. The reception opened up the discussion to many more members of the public and thus many more viewpoints. To kick it off, Ecklund gave a brief presentation of the data tailored to a more general audience. She once again highlighted the major statistical findings, common themes in the U.K. and India data, and several ways forward. Ecklund then entertained questions for 20 minutes. The reception lasted more than two hours, and almost all the guests were still there when the Club staff swept in to get ready for the next event.

In addition to high attendance and levels of engagement at both the conference and reception, Ecklund and her team were encouraged by media interest in the study. The results presented at the conference appeared in 40 media outlets around the world, including International Business Times, CNNIBN – Online, Britain News, Yahoo! India, ScienceDaily, The Free Press Journal, and The Austrian Tribune.

[UPCOMING EVENtS] Civil Religion and Religious Civility: Exploring the role of religious arguments in the public, political, and legal spheres

Catholicism and Science: Hosted by the RPLP and University of St. Thomas’s Center for Faith and Culture

Richard Mouw, Former President of Fuller Theological Seminary February 25, 2015 at 8:00 a.m.

Room 307, Sewall Hall, Rice University campus

April 14, 2015 at 6:00 p.m.

Jones Hall, University of St. Thomas campus

Should religious arguments be used in political, legal, and other debates conducted in the public sphere? Should religion ever leave the private sphere? Richard Mouw and Elaine Howard Ecklund will attempt to answer these questions and others in a public conversation on February 25.

A scholar of Christian philosophy and ethics, Mouw will address how religious arguments can be both helpful and hurtful in political, legal, and other debates.

How do contemporary Catholics in the US today understand the relationship between science and religion? To what extent do they see faith and science as being compatible, in conflict, or completely independent? How do the attitudes of Catholics on various science-related issues compare to those of the general American public? We address these questions by examining data from the largest study ever conducted on religious people’s views of science: the Religious Understandings of Science study. Panelists who represent both the religious and scientific communities will respond.

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RELIGION AND PUBLIC LIFE PROGRAM

[RPLP EVENt]

January 2015

[RESEARCH]

Matter and Meaning: Exploring the Religion and Science Dialogue Conference • Rice University • 10.24.14 ARTICLE BY Clara Roberts

On the morning of October 24, a diverse group of comapproaches to science. The speakers drew on their varied areas munity members gathered at the Rice University Bioscience of expertise to contribute to the conversation. At the close of Research Collaborative with a common goal: better underthe plenary session, attendees broke for lunch with fresh inforstanding and navigating the complex relationship between mation about the relationship between science and religion— science and religion. The “Matter and Meaning: Exploring the matter and meaning—and prepared to move into more targetReligion and Science Dialogue” conference brought together ed afternoon sessions to further develop their perspectives. religious leaders, scientists, students, and engaged citizens to

Audience members were enthusiastic about the day’s hear RPLP director Elaine Howard Ecklund present findings program and the work reflected in it more broadly. Jared Stenfrom the Religious Understandings of Science (RUS) study. son, an instructor in Rice’s physics department, said he decidThe results were drawn from more than 300 interviews with ed to attend the conference to better inform a well-rounded mainly Christian, Jewish, and Muslim congregants and from teaching method. He explained, “I’m excited to be able to see more than 10,000 responses to a nationally representative surthat there is a dialogue like this going on and a community vey. Topics covered included respondents’ personal interest of scholars willing to engage with these kinds of questions.” in science, their perception of conflict Some attendees were already thinking between religion and science, whether forward to practical applications and Largest study ever conductthey had a positive or negative view of future research developments. Rice unscientists, and their attitudes toward ed of religious people’s views dergraduate Sarah Frazier expressed her evolution. Because 35% of evangelicals hope that the RUS findings “can foster on science • 300 interviews who took the survey indicated that they more effective means of communication would consult a religious leader with a between religious and scientific groups • 10,000 survey responses question about science, Ecklund stressed to find common ground.” Alejandro the importance of involving religious Chaoul, one of the conference speakers leaders in conversations about science and religion. These disand the director of the Integrative Medicine Program at the cussions should start from a point of understanding disagreeUniversity of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, appreciated ments and should be focused on the implications, or meaning, the nuances of the RUS presentation, including the considerof scientific findings rather than on technical details. ation of demographic factors in addition to religion, such as

In addition to the plenary session where the RUS resocioeconomic status. He hopes future research will further search was presented and guest speakers responded to the investigate the perspectives of non-Abrahamic religions in ordata, the daylong conference also included breakout sessions der to better understand the multiple religious perspectives on on the major themes of the study. The six speakers scheduled science. Baylor College of Medicine scientist Lisa Atkins was to host the afternoon breakout sessions gathered as a panel to glad to see that multiple kinds of data and various disciplines, give the audience a preview. The panelists fielded questions such as history, religious studies, and sociology, were incorfrom audience members and RPLP’s Brandon Vaidyanathan porated in the conference. She valued the chance to “broaden about what it means to be human, religious responses to envi[her] view on the different perspectives out there” regarding ronmental care, views on human origins, and diverse religious the science-religion relationship.

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RELIGION AND PUBLIC LIFE PROGRAM

January 2015

On Being Human: Reproductive Genetic Technologies and ARTICLE BY Tim Chang • PHOTOS BY Akil Bennett Religious Traditions

In a breakout session at the “Matter and Meaning” conference, John Evans, a sociologist at the University of California, San Diego, talked about what it means to be human. He focused on reproductive genetic technologies (RGTs), which he defined as “technology that allows parents to influence the genetic qualities of their offspring.” He discussed the attitudes of certain religious traditions toward these technologies, as well as several theories to explain why certain religious groups oppose RGTs.

While some religious groups have historically been adamantly opposed to RGTs because they worry about the destruction of embryos, which they view as morally wrong, Evans believes this doesn’t fully explain their attitudes toward the technologies. He highlighted three other reasons conservative religious groups might oppose RGTs: the belief the technologies create an improper relationship between God and humans, the need for individual dignity and equality, and different feelings on human suffering. While the medical community perceives suffering solely in negative terms, Evans proposed that many religious groups see some suffering as peda-

gogical, teaching a person important life lessons. Thus, some Christians, for example, worry that “the greatest threat that medicine poses to Christianity is that all suffering is meaningless, and it is necessary to eradicate it.”

After the breakout session, in which Evans also took questions from Rice postdoctoral fellow David Johnson and audience members, several people offered their takeaways.

Rob Mackin, an assistant professor of sociology at Texas A&M, was surprised at how little variation seems to exist among religious groups’ views on RGTs as reported by Evans. Another attendee was surprised by the different ways in which the Christian framework of suffering manifested itself in response to different types of RGTs. Larry L. Linenschmidt, executive director of the Hill Country Institute in Austin, said Evans’ talk helped him “to see a broader view. The work that [the Hill Country Institute does] is often trying to bring Christians to a point of understanding non-Christians, and how is this person who doesn’t share my faith thinking, so we can relate to them.”

Exploring the religion and science dialogue through four break-out sessions On Being Human

John Evans, Professor of Sociology, University of California San Diego Please see article “On Being Human: Reproductive Technologies and Religious Traditions”

Religious and Scientific Views on Human Origins

Ronald Numbers, Professor of the History of Science and Medicine Emeritus, University of Wisconsin-Madison Speaker presented a history of the evolution-creationism debate, beginning with the study of geology in the mid-19th century and then moving to the influence of “Flood Geology,” a term first coined in the 1960s by Seventh-day Adventists

Diverse Religious Approaches to Religion and Science

Alejandro Chaoul, Assistant Professor of General Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center • John Mark Reynolds, Provost & Professor of Philosophy, Houston Baptist University • Norbert Samuelson, Professor of Religious Studies, Arizona State University Speakers covered Tibetan Buddhism, Evangelical Christianity, and Judaism

Religious Responses to Environmental Care

Katharine Hayhoe, Climate Scientist & Associate Professor of Political Science, Texas Tech University Please see article “Religious Responses to Environmental Care”

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RELIGION AND PUBLIC LIFE PROGRAM

January 2015

Religious Responses to Environmental Care ARTICLE BY Amber Tong • PHOTOS BY Akil Bennett

Katharine Hayhoe, a climate scientist and associate professor of political science at Texas Tech University, spoke about climate science and religion in a breakout session at the “Matter and Meaning” conference. Engaging the audience with her own questions, Hayhoe revealed multiple layers to the story of environmental care.

Climate change, according to Hayhoe, has been happening for thousands of years. What distinguishes the current period of change, however, is that it is a result of human endeavor. “Why, even then, should we care about climate change?”

Hayhoe posed. She invited the audience to examine the image typically associated with global warming—the polar bear— and criticized the prevalent motif for overlooking the effect climate change has on human lives.

Hayhoe compared what science and faith tell people about climate change, in order to illustrate that they may be complementary. While science informs people that the climate is changing, humans are responsible, the impacts affect us all, and our choices matter, it does not make a normative statement as to what choices we should make. That is where religion comes in, says Hayhoe: Christian, Muslim, and Buddhist teachings all bestow upon their followers a sense of stewardship, a need to care for creation. In Hayhoe’s words, “we are here to improve the world.” Thus, it is important not to compartmentalize religion and climate science in separate do-

mains: “We need both of them together to make a difference,” Hayhoe said.

Hayhoe emphasized that religion is not a barrier to protecting the Earth, despite what people are hearing from media sources. She directed the audience to consider another sphere: politics. Referencing a statistical graph that initially surprised her, she pointed out that the issue of climate change is the second most significant factor that differentiates Democrats and Republicans in the United States. (Democrats are more likely to accept that humans are causing global warming). This suggests that political allegiance, rather than spiritual conviction, contributes to the reluctance to act against climate change.

Yet politics and ideologies are also part of the solution, she believes. She pointed especially to thought leaders, whom she feels are influential enough to make a difference.

Hayhoe believes religious individuals can draw strength from their religious teachings in conserving the Earth. For instance, she reckoned that immediate solutions to climate change would be costly and painful, invoking people’s deep fears of economic hardship. Yet the Bible says “God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power.” Toward the end of her presentation, Hayhoe quoted John Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, to urge action: “We basically have three choices: reduce, prepare, and suffer. We are going to do some of each. The question is what the mix is going to be.”

Hayhoe then addressed questions prepared by RPLP undergraduate fellows, most of which centered on the role of religion and politics in influencing people’s thoughts on climate change. She also took questions from the audience. Several people were interested to hear about practical solutions and ways to get more people engaged in environmental care. Hayhoe approached the issue from two perspectives: She described climate scientists as physicians of the planet, who are alarmed and really want their patient to know about its illness. On the side of religion, Hayhoe stressed the importance of working with existing organizations and trusted voices, for example Young Evangelicals for Climate Action, Evangelical Environmental Network, World Vision International, and World Wildlife Fund.

“The concept of combining religion

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with environmental care was something unique and new to me,” said Priyanka Chatterjee, a doctoral student in sociology visiting from South Dakota University. “That I found [to be] different and interesting.” Niki Clements, an assistant professor of biblical studies at Rice, felt that “Hayhoe presents the issues when it comes to climate science in a meaningful way” and “especially addresses the nature of the underlying economic and political factors with clarity and elegance.” Yet, Clements remains doubtful that opinions would be unequivocal across religious groups; more questions have to be asked in order to realize Hayhoe’s vision, she said. “We want to pause before assuming that religious differences can be so easily reconciled,“ said Clements, “[yet] there is the possibility of establishing common ground in caring for the Earth and each other, and the question is: How do we articulate those goals in the context of our existing traditions, practices, and beliefs?”

Hayhoe said she thinks interdisciplinary conversations like this one are pivotal to solving humanity’s problems. “Traditionally … the way our academic system is set up … is that everybody kind of lives in their own separate tower,” she said.

“But to confront these big global problems we recognize that not only do we need all the sciences, and not only do we need all the social sciences, but we also need the humanities involved together. That’s why I think these discussions are so fruitful. … I think it definitely expands and broadens my own perspective.”

THE RELIGION AND PUBLIC LIFE

PROGRAM PRESENTS

[RPLP EVENt] Fertility Gods:

A Public Conversation Fertility Gods on Reproduction and Religion

8:00am Friday, November ARTICLE BY •Clara Roberts • PHOTOS14

BY Jeff Fitlow Sewall Hall, Room 309 • Rice University

On November 14, members of the Rice University and ow does religion shape public conversation aboutinreproduction?

Texas Medical Center community gathered a lecture hall Join us for an event on this topic. to talk about making babies. More specifically, they came to participate in aPanelists conversation about reproduction and religion.

“Having babies seems like a personal and private decision,” Elaine Howard Ecklund, director of the RPLP, “but we Renebegan Almeling Assistant Sociology know Professor, that reproduction can also be incredibly public.”

Yale University Due to their professional backgrounds, each of the three Arlene Macdonald distinguished panelists held a deep understanding of reproAssistant Professor duction as both public and private. Rene Almeling, who comThe University of Texas Medical Branch pleted her undergraduate degree at Rice, is a sociologist at Yale she has published a book about narratives used by ErikUniversity; Mazur Reproductive Endocrinologist Fertility Specialists of Houston

January 2015

sperm and egg donors and is currently undertaking a project to examine knowledge-making about men’s role in reproduction. Arlene Macdonald is a faculty member at the University of Texas Medical Branch and is involved in multi-disciplinary efforts to study the intersections of religion, spirituality, and medicine. Her current research examines narratives involved with organ tissue donation. Eric Mazur is a practicing gynecologist in Houston whose specializations include fertility preservation.

Macdonald opened the panel with conclusions from her own research. She reminded the audience that, “we can’t separate out how religious bodies live from religious and social language.” For many people, their bodily experiences are not simply biomedical. Religion can be a powerful force in governing how they make choices about reproductive technology. As Almeling later noted, an assumption frequently made in academia and the popular imagination is that the backdrop for everything in the United States is a secular one, but this often is not the case. Mazur also explained that religion is an important consideration for him as a physician because patients often introduce it when discussing fertility options. Experience has shown him that, “Religions like to talk about religion, sex, and reproduction … a lot!” Patients often create boundaries based on their religious doctrine, although, as Almeling added, the actual belief and practice of religious people may differ from official church teachings. According to Mazur, both religion and reproduction are “complex, personal, fundamental, and important” for many people, so when those two realms clash, “it becomes very personal.”

As a physician, Mazur helps patients comprehend the biological side of reproduction. He expressed hope that religious leaders will take it upon themselves to have conversations on fertility with their congregants so that they can develop complex understandings of how their religion interacts with their medical decisions. Macdonald built upon this call to action by stressing the need for religious leaders and medical professionals to work together to foster better understanding of reproductive technologies.

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ast reception following event in Rice Art Gallery foyer. vent is sponsored by the Religion and Public Life Program with support from the Urban Health Program at Rice University.

RELIGION AND PUBLIC LIFE PROGRAM

Some panel attendees wondered how other factors might influence the intersection of religion and reproduction.

Derrick O’Neil, a doctoral student at Baylor College of Medicine, said he thought the role of gender, mentioned by Mazur, would be worthy of further investigation. Rice undergraduate Kiara Aguirre, reflecting on her own Hispanic roots, wondered about the role of culture when religious people make decisions about reproductive technologies. Rice undergraduate Kalian Shi said she appreciated the “interdisciplinary discussion among experts in different fields” and the opportunity to hear such a divisive set of issues discussed in an objective and balanced way. Another Rice undergraduate, Zoe Matranga, left the panel with a fresh perspective. “I don’t have any kind of religious background, so I’m always interested in what moti-

January 2015

vates people to make decisions and the other factors that come into reproductive health,” she said. “You want to understand where everyone’s coming from so that you can have a fuller view.”

[RPLP IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE] WHO

WHAT

Adriana Garcia, graduate student, Rice University

Has a forthcoming piece in Oxford Handbooks Online in Criminology (Robert Brenneman and Adriana García, “Latin American Youth Gangs”).

Di Di, graduate student, Rice University

Successfully defended her Master’s thesis, “Construction and Tensions Res- olution: A Comparative Study of Religious Conversion to Protestantism among Chinese and Indian Immigrants in the United States.”

Received a Pre-Dissertation Research Grant from Rice University’s Social Science Research Institute for her project entitled, “Hybrid Identities: A Comparative Study of Religious Conversion to Protestantism among Chi- nese and Indian Immigrants in the United States.”

Esther Chan, former post-baccalaureate Published an article in Review of Religious Research (August 2014), “Complemen- fellow, graduate student, Yale University tarianism as Doctrine and Governance: Narratives on Women’s Leadership among Second-Generation Asian Americans.”

Samuel Kye, former post-baccalaureate fellow , graduate student, Indiana University

Won honorable mention for the SSSP Division on Racial and Ethnic Minori- ties Student Paper Competition Award for his paper “Revisiting White Flight and Segregation: The Consequences of Ethnoburbs.”

David Johnson, postdoctoral fellow, Rice University

Presented a paper entitled “How Public Confidence in Higher Education Varies by Social Context” at the annual meeting of the Association for the Study of Higher Education in Washington D.C.

Was mentioned by U.S. News and World Report in an article on technology and higher education.

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January 2015

[RESEARCH] RELIGION AMONG SCIENTISTS IN INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT

In November Ecklund, Kirstin Matthews, and Steve Lewis, co-PIs of the Religion Among Scientists in International Context (RASIC) study, finished fielding surveys in Taiwan and Hong Kong, leaving only surveys in three of the eight study countries remaining. Additionally, they reached interview targets for the UK and India and are close to closing out interview data collection in Italy as well. Both the research team and the contracted survey firm are actively preparing for U.S. fieldwork, which is slated to begin in early 2015.

To round out the Taiwan interviews, Lewis traveled to Taiwan for 2 weeks in early November and conducted almost 20 interviews in three cities across the region. Lewis noted that interview respondents embodied several interesting “characters,” including “The Critical Theorist” who increasingly questions her spiritual development; the “Multi-religious Family Scientist” who navigates having two religious traditions within the same household; and the scientist who espouses “Science in the Service of Religion,” who sees scientific work as religious calling.

Ecklund and team have so far interviewed close to 70 Italian scientists, the majority of these interviews being done in person with transcription of these interviews already well

under way, the research team will soon be ready to begin intensive analyses of the Italy data.

The RASIC U.S. survey has been launched and interviews are currently being scheduled, while the team is also actively preparing for fieldwork in France and Turkey.

RELIGIOUS UNDERSTANDINGS OF SCIENCE

Ecklund and her research team have continued to focus their attention on data dissemination and analysis. In October 2014, the research team presented two papers at the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, and post-doctoral fellow David Johnson presented “Disentangling Public Confidence in Higher Education” at the annual meeting of the Association for the Study of Higher Education in Washington D.C. and later submitted the manuscript for publication. Another paper by Johnson, Christopher Scheitle, and Ecklund, “Individual Religiosity and Orientation towards Science: Reformulating Relationships,” was accepted for publication in Sociological Science.

Ecklund and Scheitle are developing a book manuscript and will solicit a publisher in the spring.

The team has also worked to communicate findings beyond the scholarly community. As reported in the “Matter and

Meaning” article, in October the RPLP hosted a conference dedicated to the project; more than 100 people attended the event, including students, scholars, community members, scientists, and religious leaders. Ecklund has also spoken at two community organizations about the results of the study: to the Rice University Graduate Christian Fellowship in October, and to Pastors for Texas Children in December. In the coming months Ecklund will speak on the project at Westmont College, Biola University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Seattle Pacific University, the 2015 American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting, and the American Sociological Association meeting, as well as at the International Congress on Science and/or Religion: A 21st Century Debate in Vienna. The study was recently covered in Christianity Today and the Huffington Post.

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