Acceptance of evolution among American Mormons

Baker, Joseph O.; Rogers, D. B.; Moser, Timothy J.

doi:10.1080/13537903.2018.1408295

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…There is a large literature on creationism, including, for example, numerous educational studies (see the journal Evolution: Education and Outreach), studies of the Creation Museum in Kentucky (Butler 2010;Homchick 2009;Oberlin 2014;Trollinger and Trollinger 2016), analysis of creationist texts (Locke 2014;Aechtner 2014), creationist study groups (Toumey 1994) and conferences (Rosenhouse 2012), historical studies (Numbers 2006;Moran 2011;Larson 2008), numerous analyses of survey data (Miller, Scott, and Okamoto 2006;Haider-Markel and Joslyn 2008;Baker 2012;Hill 2014;Unsworth and Voas 2018;Village and Baker 2013;Ecklund and Scheitle 2017;Aechtner and Buchanan 2018;Baker, Rogers, and Moser 2018), and an examination of creationism in different contexts in the English-speaking world (Coleman and Carlin 2004). However, there are few qualitative congregational studies concerned with creationism; one exception is Esther Chan and Elaine Howard Ecklund's study of mainline and evangelical Protestant understandings of evolution and miracles (Chan and Ecklund 2016).…”

Section: Comparative Congregational Studies Of Evangelicalismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evangelicals, evolution, and inerrancy: a comparative study of congregational boundary work

Unsworth¹,

Ecklund

2021

Journal of Contemporary Religion

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A number of evangelical Christian denominations and networks uphold a specific doctrine of Scripture, stating that the Bible is the 'inerrant' word of God. Those who adhere to biblical inerrancy tend to reject literary interpretations of the creation accounts in the Bible and therefore to reject evolutionary theory. Indeed, evolution rejection frequently functions as a key boundary for biblical inerrantists that must be strictly maintained. In this comparative study, we analyse interview data and other materials to uncover the mechanisms by which evolution rejection as a boundary is strengthened, maintained or weakened within two evangelical church congregations that adhere to biblical inerrancy: one in London, UK, the other in Texas, US. We find significant differences in boundary work between the two congregations and consider how the interplay of three factors-1) orientation of the congregation (internal or external), 2) religious context (minority or majority), 3) boundary salience-may lead to boundary strengthening or weakening.

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Section: Comparative Congregational Studies Of Evangelicalismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evangelicals, evolution, and inerrancy: a comparative study of congregational boundary work

Unsworth¹,

Ecklund

2021

Journal of Contemporary Religion

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“…Empirical research has documented an increasing politicization of views about science among the American public since the 1970s (Gauchat 2012), showing that "the culture divisions over science's authority have coalesced with political identities rather than cross-cutting them" (Gouchat 2015: 740). Indeed, within some religious communities, such the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, members' political views effectively determine their attitudes regarding controversial scientific issues such as evolution (Baker et al 2018).…”

Section: Religion Politics and Public Opinion About Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

Crusading for Moral Authority: Christian Nationalism and Opposition to Science

Baker

Perry

Whitehead

2020

Preprint

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Numerous studies show biblicist Christianity, religiosity, and conservative political identity are strong predictors of Americans holding skeptical attitudes toward publicly controversial aspects of science, such as human evolution. We show that Christian nationalism—meaning the desire to see particularistic and exclusivist versions of Christian symbols, values, and policies enshrined as the established religion of the United States—is a strong and consistent predictor of Americans’ attitudes about science above and beyond other religious and political characteristics. Further, a majority of the overall effect of political ideology on skepticism about the moral authority of science is mediated through Christian nationalism, indicating that political conservatives are more likely to be concerned with particular aspects of science primarily because they are more likely to be Christian nationalists. Likewise, substantial proportions of the well-documented associations between religiosity and biblical “literalism” with views of science are mediated through Christian nationalism. Because Christian nationalism seeks to establish a particular and exclusivist vision of Christianity as the dominant moral order, adherents feel threatened by challenges to the epistemic authority undergirding that order, including by aspects of science perceived as challenging the supremacy of biblicist authority.

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“…As stated earlier, the predominant religion in Utah County is CJCLDS, with one of the Universities surveyed being affiliated with that church. Religion, and especially the religious views of Latter-Day Saints, has proven in the past to be an important factor in political stances, trust in science, and evolutionary acceptance (47,66,67).…”

Section: Differences Between Populationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using structural equation modeling to model compliance with COVID-19 related non-pharmaceutical interventions amongst university students in the United States

Shumway¹,

Hopper²,

Tolman³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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The world is currently dealing with a devastating pandemic. Although growing COVID-19 case numbers, deaths, and hospitalizations are concerning, this spread is particularly alarming in the United States where polarizing opinions, changing policies, and misinformation abound. In particular, American college campuses have been a venue of rampant transmission, with concerning spillover into surrounding, more vulnerable, communities. We surveyed over 600 college students from across the United States and modeled predictors of compliance with non-pharmaceutical interventions. We identified concern with severity (p < .001), constitutional originalist ideology (p < .001), news exposure (p < .001) and religiosity (p < .05) as significant positive correlates with compliance, and general trust in science (p < .05) as a significant negative correlate. To determine how applicable nationwide modeling might be to individual local campuses we also administered this same survey to nearly 600 students at two large universities in Utah County. In this population, concern with severity was the only significant positive correlate with compliance (p < .001); Additionally, feelings of inconvenience was negatively correlated (p < .001). The effects of feelings of inconvenience, and news exposure were significantly different between populations (p < .001, p < .001). These results suggest that we should focus our efforts on increasing knowledge about the pandemic’s effects on our society and informing about constitutionality amongst college students. However, we also show that nationwide surveys and modeling are informative, but if campuses are to efficiently curb the spread of COVID-19 this coming semester, they would be best served to utilize data collected from their student populations as these might significantly differ from general consensus data.

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Acceptance of evolution among American Mormons

Cited by 8 publications

References 24 publications

Evangelicals, evolution, and inerrancy: a comparative study of congregational boundary work

Evangelicals, evolution, and inerrancy: a comparative study of congregational boundary work

Crusading for Moral Authority: Christian Nationalism and Opposition to Science

Using structural equation modeling to model compliance with COVID-19 related non-pharmaceutical interventions amongst university students in the United States

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