Does Anyone Sincerely Believe in Science? and Several Other Questions

Abstract

This piece, a sort of epilogue to the special issue, reflects on different ways to study “religious belief.” It identifies two broad types of scholarly questions. The first concerns religious beliefs themselves, how they are held, what work they do in societies, etc. The second interrogates “religious belief” itself as a category. And yet, these two types, while having seemingly quite distinct aims and assumptions, often overlap. The piece concludes with a discussion of “scientific beliefs,” as a way of asking what, if anything, is distinctive about religious beliefs, approached through either type of question.