Science and religion around the world: Compatibility between belief systems predicts increased wellbeing

Abstract

Previous research, conducted mainly in Western societies, indicates that religious/spiritual (R/S) and pro-science belief systems each relate positively to believer well-being, but are perceived as being highly incompatible with each other. This perception would presumably undermine one's ability to benefit fully from both systems, leading to the research questions examined here: does the perceived incompatibility between religion and science vary cross-culturally, and is this level of incompatibility itself related to group member well-being? Our data set included 55,230 participants from 54 countries, organized for analytical purposes into 13 global regions and 11 belief groups. We found that perceived incompatibility between R/S and pro-science beliefs was indeed characteristic of the West but was not the norm cross-culturally. We also found that higher levels of belief system compatibility related positively to well-being, and especially to the strength of positive associations between well-being and each type of belief system. That is, in regions and belief groups that perceived higher compatibility, well-being's positive relationships with R/S and pro-science beliefs were both also higher. We speculate about compatibility's potential causal effects on these relationships, noting that as compatibility increases, so does the possibility of benefiting from one system without forgoing the benefits of the other.