Most U.S. scientists do not believe in a god, but 40 percent do - the same percentage as did in 1916, researchers reported on Wednesday.
The findings show that better, more widespread education has not destroyed the need to believe, said Edward Larson, a historian at the University of Georgia, and Larry Witham of Seattle's Discovery Institute.In 1916, researcher James Leuba shocked the nation with his survey that found only 40 percent of scientists believed in a supreme being. He predicted such ungodliness would spread as education improved.
"To test that belief, we replicated Leuba's survey as exactly as possible," Larson and Witham wrote in a commentary for the science journal Nature.
"The result: about 40 percent of scientists still believe in a personal God and an afterlife. In both surveys, roughly 45 percent disbelieved and 15 percent were doubters (agnostic)."
They surveyed 1,000 randomly chosen scientists listed in the reference book "American Men and Women of Science," a later version of the 1910 work Leuba used.
The were asked whether they believed in a God who would answer prayers, whether they believed in human immortality and whether they wished for an afterlife of some sort.
"Today, even more than in 1916, most scientists have no use for God or an afterlife," they found.
"But to the extent that both surveys are accurate readings, traditional Western theism has not lost its place among U.S. scientists, despite their intellectual preoccupation with material reality," they wrote. "Americans will doubtless be pleased to know that as many as 40 percent of scientists agree with them about God and an afterlife." There were notable differences among the disciplines.
"The 1996 survey showed that mathematicians are most inclined to believe in God (44.6 percent)," they wrote.
"And although biologists showed the highest rate of disbelief or doubt in Leuba's day (69.5 percent), that ranking is now given to physicists and astronomers."
One scientist, asked whether he desired immortality, answered: "It is pointless to desire the ridiculous."
Another said: "But it would be nice."