‘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

Figures & data

Table 1. Scale properties.

Scale	No. of items	Alpha	Mean	SD	Low	High
Attitude towards theistic faith	7	.93	20.20	7.84	7	35
Rejection of religion	3	.71	9.04	2.80	3	15
Religious fundamentalism	4	.71	10.96	3.71	4	20
Scientific fundamentalism	3	.69	9.28	2.59	3	15
Extraversion	6	.68	4.69	1.53	0	6
Neuroticism	6	.68	3.10	1.80	0	6
Psychoticism	6	.58	1.15	1.30	0	6

Table 2. Scale items for the attitudinal variables.

	r	Yes %
Attitude towards theistic faith
I find it hard to believe in God^a	.58	37
Prayer helps me a lot	.78	27
I think going to a place of worship is a waste of my time^a	.54	27
I know that God is very close to me	.88	30
God helps me to lead a better life	.89	31
I know that God helps me	.90	34
God means a lot to me	.90	33
Religious fundamentalism
I believe in hell	.51	42
I believe that God made the world in six days of 24 hours	.59	19
There is only one God	.55	36
The earth is only a few thousand years old	.35	6
Scientific fundamentalism
Theories in science can be proved to be definitely true	.56	42
The laws of science will never be changed	.44	25
Science can give us absolute truths	.62	27
Rejection of religion
Religion brings more conflict than peace	.56	46
Religious people are often intolerant of others	.55	30
Religion is mainly a force for bad in the world today	.45	21

r: Correlation between the item and the sum of the other items in the scale

Yes %: sum of the agree and the agree strongly responses.

^aItems reverse coded to calculate r.

Table 3. Correlations with personal and psychological factors.

	Sex	Age	E	N	P
Worship attendance	.06***	−.00	−.02	.04***	−.13***
Personal prayer	.07***	−.00	−.02**	.05**	−.12***
Rejection of religion	−.07***	.03**	−.01	.09***	.08***
Religious fundamentalism	.13***	−.04***	.03**	.06***	−.12***
Scientific fundamentalism	−.08***	.02	−.01	.02	−.00
Theistic faith	.09***	−.03**	.01	.03***	−.17***
Exclusivism	−.06***	−.01	−.03**	−.03**	.04***
Inclusivism	−.04***	−.01	−.02	−.01	−.00
Pluralism A	.02	−.04***	.00	−.02	−.03***
Pluralism B	.11***	.03***	.04***	−.03***	−.14***
Interreligious	.00	−.01	−.02	.01	−.05***
Atheism	−.16***	.02	−.03***	−.05***	.15***
Agnosticism	.03**	−.00	.02	.00	.07***

**p < .01; ***p < .001.

Table 4. Regression model: science disproves the biblical account of creation.

	R	Model 1	Model 2	Model 3	Model 4	Model 5
Personal factors
Sex	−.04***	−.05***	−.06***	−.05***	.01	.01*
Age	.01	.01	.01	.01	−.01	−.01
Psychological factors
Extraversion	−.03***		−.03**	−.03**	−.03***	−.03**
Neuroticism	.02*		.02*	.03**	−.01	−.01
Psychoticism	−.00		−.01	−.03*	−.03***	−.03***
Religious factors
Worship attendance	−.10***			−.06***	.01	.01
Personal prayer	−.12***			−.09***	.05***	.04***
Attitudinal factors
Rejection of religion	.33***				.18***	.18***
Religious fundamentalism	−.18***				−.08***	−.06***
Scientific fundamentalism	.44***				.35***	.35***
Theistic faith	−.21***				−.10***	−.09***
Theological factors
Exclusivism	−.08***					.02
Pluralism A	−.02					.03
Pluralism B	−.03***					.03
Interreligious	.03***					.04**
Atheist	.16***					.08***
Agnostic	.01					.03
Inclusivism	−.08***
Total R^2		.0	.0	.2	.24	.25

*p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001.