A majority of South Africans agrees that when science and religion conflict, religion is always right. Is this an indication the public is anti-science or does the question wording hide a more complex relationship? We examined the relationship between science and religion in South Africa using quantitative data from the World Values Survey and qualitative data from face-to-face interviews. As research on the potential conflict between science and religion is predominantly focused on Western countries, the present study focuses on Africa and compares results with those of two Western countries. Findings show that almost 76% South Africans agree that religion is always right and religious belief, social trust and education were significant predictors of this perception. Comparing findings with data from Zimbabwe, the United States and Germany, we found that while the influence of religiosity is significant across countries, comparatively, trust seems to be more of an African issue. The qualitative interviews, however, provided an elaboration of the relationship between science and religion in South Africa, indicating that choosing either science or religion is not always an outright rejection of the other. The relationships were classified as those informed by cognitive dissonance, often expressed in hierarchical associations, and those influenced by cognitive polyphasia , a complementary and transformative coexistence.

中文翻译：

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不和谐和多相是解决南非人科学与宗教之间潜在冲突的策略

大多数南非人同意，当科学与宗教发生冲突时，宗教永远是对的。这是否表明公众是反科学的，还是问题措辞隐藏了更复杂的关系？我们使用世界价值观调查的定量数据和面对面访谈的定性数据研究了南非科学与宗教之间的关系。由于对科学与宗教之间潜在冲突的研究主要集中在西方国家，因此本研究将重点放在非洲，并将结果与​​两个西方国家的结果进行比较。调查结果显示，近 76% 的南非人同意宗教永远是正确的，宗教信仰、社会信任和教育是这种看法的重要预测因素。将调查结果与津巴布韦、美国和德国的数据进行比较，我们发现，虽然宗教信仰对各国的影响很大，但相比之下，信任似乎更像是一个非洲问题。然而，定性访谈详细说明了南非科学与宗教之间的关系，表明选择科学或宗教并不总是完全拒绝另一个。这些关系被归类为由认知失调所告知的关系，通常以等级关联表示，以及受认知多相影响的关系，这是一种互补和变革性的共存。表明选择科学或宗教并不总是完全拒绝另一个。这些关系被归类为由认知失调所告知的关系，通常以等级关联表示，以及受认知多相影响的关系，这是一种互补和变革性的共存。表明选择科学或宗教并不总是完全拒绝另一个。这些关系被归类为由认知失调所告知的关系，通常以等级关联表示，以及受认知多相影响的关系，这是一种互补和变革性的共存。