Science disproves the biblical account of creation : exploring the predictors of perceived conflict between science and religion among 13- to 15-year-old students in the UK

This study drew on data provided by 11,809 13- to 15-year-old students drawn from the four nations of the United Kingdom to explore the level of agreement with the view that science disproves the biblical account of creation, and to explore the power of five sets of variables to predict individual differences in responses to that opinion. The five sets of variables were personal factors, psychological factors, religious factors, attitudinal factors (including ‘scientific fundamentalism’, understood as an exaggerated, uncritical, and unqualified belief in the inerrancy of science), and theological factors (distinguishing between differing implied theologies of religion). Blockwise multiple regression demonstrated that personal, psychological, religious, and theological factors all held significant power, but that the greatest variance was explained by the attitudinal variables. When the five sets of variables were assessed within the model, 25% of the variance was accounted for. Greater incompatibility between science and religion was associated with scientific fundamentalism (ß = .37, p < .001), with anti-religious attitude (ß = .16, p < .001), and with atheism (ß = .07, p < .001). These findings suggest that young people who believe in science in an unqualified way are more distrustful of religion