What people of faith think about science is focus of Rice U. talk Jan. 30

Rice University
Office of Public Affairs / News & Media Relations

David Ruth
713-348-6327
david@rice.edu

Amy McCaig
713-348-6777
amym@rice.edu

What people of faith think about science is focus of Rice U. talk Jan. 30

HOUSTON – (Jan. 25, 2018) – What do people of faith really think about science? Rice University’s Religion and Public Life Program will explore this question and more as it celebrates the release of “Religion vs. Science: What Religious People Really Think” (Oxford University Press, 232 pages, $29.95). Co-authors and sociologists Elaine Howard Ecklund and Christopher Scheitle will speak. The event will be Jan. 30 at 7 p.m. in Fondren Library’s Kyle Morrow Room; it is free and open to the public.

WHAT: “Religion vs. Science: What Religious People Really Think” book event.

WHERE: Fondren Library’s Kyle Morrow Room, Rice University, 6100 Main St.

WHEN: 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 30.

The book is based on the Religious Understandings of Science (RUS) study, a five-year survey of 10,000 Americans about their views on the relationship between religion and science, as well as specific scientific issues such as stem cell research, evolution and creation, and science education. The research also included more than 300 in-person interviews. The book reflects on several major themes of the study across a range of disciplines.

Ecklund, the Herbert S. Autrey Chair in Social Sciences and director of the Religion and Public Life Program, and Scheitle, an assistant professor of sociology at West Virginia University, will give some remarks and additional insights into the book. Pastor Lee Hsia of Houston’s First Baptist Church Downtown and Rabbi Geoff Mitelman of Sinai and Synapses will moderate the conversation and provide unique perspectives on the book’s content.

This event is sponsored by the Religion and Public Life Program with support from the Program in Jewish Studies at Rice University.

For more information, to schedule an interview with the authors and/or moderators ahead of the event or to RSVP to the event, contact Amy McCaig, senior media relations specialist at Rice, at 713-348-6777 or amym@rice.edu.

A map of campus is available at www.rice.edu/maps/maps.html.

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This news release can be found online at http://news.rice.edu/.

Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews.

Related Materials:

Religion and Public Life Program website: https://rplp.rice.edu/

Story on “Religion vs. Science: What Religious People Really Think”: http://news.rice.edu/2017/12/13/new-book-examines-what-religious-americans-think-about-science/

Photo link: http://news.rice.edu/files/2018/01/47903037_l-1113rfu.jpg

Photo credit: 123rf.com

Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,970 undergraduates and 2,934 graduate students, Rice’s undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for quality of life and for lots of race/class interaction and No. 2 for happiest students by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. To read “What they’re saying about Rice,” go to http://tinyurl.com/RiceUniversityoverview.

About Amy McCaig

Amy is a senior media relations specialist in Rice University's Office of Public Affairs.