‘That’s how Muslims are required to view the world’: Race, culture and belief in non-Muslims’ descriptions of Islam and science

Abstract

Islam's positioning in relation to Western ideals of individuality, freedom, women's rights and democracy has been an abiding theme of sociological analysis and cultural criticism, especially since September 11 th 2001. Less attention has been paid, however, to another concept that has been central to the image of Western modernity: science. This article analyzes comments about Islam gathered over the course of 117 interviews and 13 focus groups with non-Muslim members of the public and scientists in the UK and Canada on the theme of the relationship between science and religion. The article shows how participants' accounts of Islam and science contrasted starkly with their accounts of other religious traditions, with a notable minority of predominantly non-religious interviewees describing Islam as uniquely, and uniformly, hostile to science and rational thought. It highlights how such descriptions of Islam were used to justify the cultural othering of Muslims in the West and anxieties about educational segregation, demographic 'colonization' and Islamist extremism. Using these data, the article argues for: 1) wider recognition of how popular understandings of science remain bound up with conceptions of Western cultural superiority; and 2) greater attentiveness to how prejudices concerning Islamic beliefs help make the idea that Muslims pose a threat to the West respectable.

Diversification and internationalization in the sociological study of science and religion

“…Although science and technology studies has long exposed exclusions and inequalities in science on the basis of gender, race, and socioeconomic status (Xie, ), religious identity as a basis for discrimination is rarely considered. Historians of science have begun to recognize race as an important constituent of constructions of science and religion (Keel, ; Livingstone, ), and some sociological work has highlighted this dynamic (Jones, Catto, Kaden, & Elsdon‐Baker, ). Based on interviews with black and Latinx Christians in the United States, Bolger and Ecklund () found that Latinx participants were more concerned than Black participants about science educators negatively impacting children's faith.…”

What science means to me: Understanding personal identification with (evolutionary) science using the sociology of (non)religion

“…Islamophobia was associated with both identifications, but in the latter case it was especially prominent (we have explored this in depth in Jones et al, 2019).…”

“…And it’s absolutely terrifying. I’m not sure what’s going to happen.Cliff, UK, nonreligious, publicIslamophobia was associated with both identifications, but in the latter case it was especially prominent (we have explored this in depth in Jones et al., 2019).…”

Groups in contact: Meta‐representations, interobjectivity, and cultural incompatibilities

“…In fact there are crucial differences between a strict interpretation of Islam's prescriptions and the native European society that broadly accept the rule of human rights and the equality of sexes and genders (Inci, 2006; Mirzo, 2018). In this context Islam's teachings about sexuality, gender relationships (e.g., Arsel, 2018), girl's, and also boys' inexistent rights of self‐determination, not to mention the occasional female genital mutilation, and marked antisemitism are fundamentally incommensurable with a modern Western lifestyle and the rationality of science that effectively contradicts pivotal elements of Muslim identity and constitutes an ethical barrier to interaction with non‐believers (Arsel, 2018; Hopkins & Kahani‐Hopkins, 2004; Jones, Catto, Kaden, & Elsdon‐Baker, 2019; Sarica, 2018; Schiefer & Möllering, 2012).…”