Rice receives grant to study science and religion in the United States

Rice University researchers have received a $1.08 million grant to study religion and science from the John Templeton Foundation.

Associate professor of sociology Elaine Hoard Ecklund will lead the study. She is also the director of the Social Sciences Research Institute's Religion and Public Life Program and is a Rice Scholar at the Baker Institute for Public Policy. Her research plans to explore the link to how people of various religions perceive science and vice versa.

Ecklund will survey evangelicals, mainline Protestants, Catholics, Jews and Muslims via data, observation and interviews. She will study congregations, individuals and religious authoritative figures.

"It's very unusual as a scholar to have such a direct opportunity to utilize your research in such practical ways," Ecklund said in a press release. "This grant will provide a great opportunity for us to conduct cutting-edge research about how these religious groups understand science and provide outreach and translation to individuals who might have some difficulties with some aspects of science."

This study will be Ecklund's third on science and religion. Her first study was titled "Religion Among Academic Scientists," and her second study was titled "Religion Among Scientists in International Context."