The Science & Belief in Society Podcast

Are scientists allowed to be religious at work?

In this episode, Dr Carissa Sharp, a social psychologist at the University of Birmingham, Dr Renny Thomas, a sociologist at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) in Bhopal, and Dr Arturo Fitz Herbert, from the Communications Department of the Universidad Austral in Buenos Aires in Argentina join Deborah Cohen to discuss what scientists really believe in, and crucially what the public thinks they 'should' or 'do' believe in!

Exposing the oft overlooked historical connections between the natural and the supernatural

In this episode, Peter Harrison, Professor Emeritus of History and Philosophy at the University of Queensland, talks about his latest book, Some New World: myths of supernatural belief in a secular age, which explores the relationship between the natural and the supernatural across time, from Aristotle to the end of the 20th century.

How do students reconcile their beliefs with their school curriculum?

Rachael Shillitoe is a sociologist and a senior social scientist in the British civil service. She was previously a Leverhulme Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham where she studied what primary school age children think about religion. Dr Elizabeth Barnes is an Assistant Professor of Biology Education at Middle Tennessee State University, who explores how to teach culturally controversial topics.

What do religious and spiritual Australians think about modern medicine?

Dr Anna Halafoff, an Associate Professor of Sociology and coordinator of the Spirituality and Wellbeing (SWell) Research Network, SWELL, based at Deakin University in Melbourne, and Dr Tom Aechtner, Associate Professor at the University of Queensland where he researches Australian-specific sources of vaccine hesitancies around COVID-19 and other diseases and their relationship with religious beliefs, join Deborah Cohen to discuss their research.

How do religious views affect abortion policies in the US and South America?

Dr Amy Adamczyk, Professor of Sociology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, part of City University of New York, and Dr Reynaldo Rivera and Dr Maria Sol Barbera, from the School of Communications at the Universidad Australin Buenos Aries in Argentina, discuss their research on how different contexts and personal religious beliefs shape people’s health-related attitudes and behaviors, in particular medical interventions such as abortion and assisted conception, at the beginning of life. Amy Adamczyk’s book Fetal Positions, is published by OxfordUniversity Press.