Posted by Chris on August 23, 1998 at 21:04:35:
There's an interesting correspondence in the July 23 issue of Nature. In 1996, Edward J. Larson and Larry Witham conducted a survey to compare current religious views among scientists with the results of similar polls conducted in 1914 and 1933. The two main questions in the poll were:
1) Do you believe in a personal God? belief/disbelief/doubt
2) Do you believe in human immortality? belief/disbelief/doubt
Surprising to many, it was found that the ratios of responses among scientists in general had remained about the same: 60.7% expressed disbelief or doubt.
In July, a second set of results were communicated, looking at the religios beliefs of today's "great scientists." Members of the National Academy of Scientists were polled and compared to the responses from "great scientists" of 1914 and 1933. The results:
Belief in personal God: 1914 1933 1998
Personal belief 27.7% 15% 7.0%
Personal disbelief 52.7% 68% 72.2%
Doubt or agnosticism 20.9% 17% 20.8%
Belief in human immortality:
Personal belief 35.2% 18% 7.9%
Personal disbelief 25.4% 53% 76.7%
Doubt or agnosticism 43.7% 29% 23.3%
What I really found interesting were the results categorized by field. Among NAS biologists, disbelief in God and immortality was 65.2% and 69.0%. Among physical scientists it was 79.0% and 76.3%. The lowest rate of belief was among biologists: 5.5% believe in God, 7.1% in immortality. The highest rate of belief was among mathematicians: 14.3% in God, 15.0% in immortality.
The statistic for mathematicians was especially interesting, considering our own Robert O'Brien, the proud mathematics major. Why do "great" mathematicians more readily believe in God? What is it about belief in a personal God and the study of mathematics that produces this phenomenon? Any thoughts or comments?
(See Nature 389, pages 435-436 (1997) and Nature 394, page 313 (1998) for the two surveys).