More than 20 percent of atheist scientists are spiritual, according to new research from Rice University. Though the general public marries spirituality and religion, the study found that spirituality is a separate idea — one that more closely aligns with scientific discovery — for ‘spiritual atheist’ scientists.

The research will be published in the June issue of Sociology of Religion.

Through in-depth interviews with 275 natural and social scientists at elite universities, the Rice researchers found that 72 of the scientists said they have a spirituality that is consistent with science, although they are not formally religious.

‘Our results show that scientists hold religion and spirituality as being qualitatively different kinds of constructs,’ said Elaine Howard Ecklund, assistant professor of sociology at Rice and lead author of the study. ‘These spiritual atheist scientists are seeking a core sense of truth through spirituality — one that is generated by and consistent with the work they do as scientists.’

For example, these scientists see both science and spirituality as ‘meaning-making without faith’ and as an individual quest for meaning that can never be final. According to the research, they find spirituality congruent with science and separate from religion, because of that quest; where spirituality is […]