Religiously conservative Americans consistently demonstrate lower scientific literacy than other Americans. Some argue, however, that Americans’ scientific literacy is contingent on subcultural conflict, showing differences in scientific literacy that emerge only on religiously contested scientific claims. Building on these insights, we find that the most salient factor explaining Americans’ divergence on contested (though not on uncontested) scientific claims is not religious commitment or conservatism per se, but an ideology that seeks political—and consequently epistemic—dominance: Christian nationalism. National data show that Christian nationalism is unassociated with Americans’ answers on questions about uncontested scientific knowledge. However, Christian nationalism is the strongest predictor of incorrect answers on questions about religiously contested scientific claims. Contemporary “culture war” debates over science have little to do with outright ignorance of science, nor are they strictly about religiosity or theological conservatism. Rather, disputes over science and religion reflect politically motivated denials of scientific facts that threaten Christian nationalism’s claims to epistemic and cultural authority.

宗教保守的美国人始终表现出比其他美国人更低的科学素养。然而，有些人认为，美国人的科学素养取决于亚文化冲突，表明科学素养的差异仅出现在有宗教争议的科学主张上。基于这些见解，我们发现，解释美国人对有争议（尽管不是无争议）科学主张的分歧的最显着因素不是宗教承诺或保守主义本身，而是一种寻求政治——进而是认知——主导地位的意识形态：基督教民族主义. 全国数据显示，基督教民族主义与美国人对无争议科学知识问题的回答无关。然而，基督教民族主义是最强大的对有关有宗教争议的科学主张的问题的错误答案的预测器。当代关于科学的“文化战争”辩论与对科学的完全无知无关，也与宗教信仰或神学保守主义无关。相反，关于科学和宗教的争论反映了出于政治动机对科学事实的否认，这些事实威胁到基督教民族主义对认知和文化权威的主张。