Do you believe in God? No: 12% Yes, without doubt: 26% Don’t know: 13% Believe in higher power: 30% Sometimes: 6% Do, but with some doubts: 9% Source: WORLDVIEWS AND OPINIONS OF SCIENTISTS IN INDIA SUMMARY REPORT. Photo courtesy of CLIPART.COM

Most scientists in India are likely to believe in evolution and have no ethical qualms about stem cell research. Yet, about half of those same scientists are also likely to believe that prayer is effective and nearly all of them approve of university degree courses in Ayurvedic medicine.

This is according to a new survey of the religious, social and political views of 1,100 scientists in India. The survey, called the Worldviews and Opinions of Scientists in India Summary Report, was released June 5 by the nonpartisan Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture at Trinity College in Hartford in collaboration with the Center for Inquiry India based in Hyderabad.

The survey asked engineers, biologists, social scientists, mathematicians, chemists and other scientists at 130 universities and research institutes about their views on an array of social and science-related topics, including why they became scientists (most said out of personal interest and curiosity), their preferred national economic model, how they view animal research and what they consider ethical practice in research.

“This kind of study has never been done outside of the Western world, the Judeo-Christian world, if you want to call it that,” said Barry Kosmin, a sociologist and the director of the institute at Trinity. “The profile of Indian scientists is really unknown.”

Kosmin said that the survey is the first of its kind, and that the institute plans to follow up with similar ones on scientists of other nations, such as Japan, Russia and Turkey.

Several survey questions focused on topics related to religion, some showing contrasts in the scientists’ views compared with India’s general population. For example, while four out of five Indians are Hindu, only 66 percent of the scientists identify themselves as so. Three percent of them say they are Muslim, compared to about 13.4 percent of the entire population. One of out every 10 scientists identified themselves as atheist.

Meanwhile, one in four of the Indian scientists says they “know God really exists” without a doubt.

“Among American scientists, you wouldn't get a quarter saying that [they unequivocally believe in God]. You would amongst the general population, but you wouldn't among the scientists,” said Kosmin.

For comparison, he said that only about 10 percent of American scientists and social scientists believe for sure that God exists, according to a 2007 survey.

Still the percentage seemed low to some local Indian natives who were trained in the sciences and living in the United States.

“I am totally surprised," said Puran Dang, who holds degrees in engineering, physics and business administration. "I firmly believe in God."

Dang, a native of India who founded an Indian Institutes of Technology alumnae group in New England called IIT-SINE, is Hindu.

"My impression of that is if you do a survey over there, that you will find science and religion existing in parallel — it's not an either or," said Atul Sharma, an engineer at Nuvera Fuel Cells in Billerica, Mass. The Indian native who also attended the Indian Institutes of Technology in Kanpur said that he was also surprised that more of the scientists don’t believe in God and that more of them are not Hindu.

The survey also asked participants about their dietary habits and their views on animal research. Less than half of the scientists reported that they are vegetarian and of those who are, just three percent say they are exclusively because of religious reasons. In addition, the scientists view pigs and cows as the same when it comes to scientific research. Two-thirds thought it was okay to conduct life science research on cows.

The latter answer was no surprise to Dang.

“Most of the Hindus … don't take beef," he said. “But scientists are always fired by a strong sense of curiosity and scientific inquiry, and may not mind doing experiments on cows,” he said.

Prayer and traditional medicine are popular among most of the Indian scientists. Half of them believe in the power of prayer and nearly all — 90 percent — feel its okay for universities to offer degree courses in Ayurvedic medicine. Just over two-fifths approve of seeking religious endorsement of space research projects.

“You wonder if there are politically-correct kinds of answers being given,” said Kosmin. He noted that the definition of secularism has “a unique meaning in India.” Most of the surveyed scientists view the term in the context of the Indian constitution that defines it as a separation between religion and government. A minority of those surveyed say secularism equals atheism.

“You get two pieces to it, what you might call the public secularism and then the personal secularism,” said Kosmin. “It's really talking about their outlook on society, not their personal outlook.”

The survey also touched on political and world views of the scientists. Most of them prefer a “mixed-market” economic model, and most believe that the under representation of women in the sciences is due more to cultural influences and education than to nature. The scientists also view Indians as having an overall low scientific literacy — with politicians ranking as the most scientifically illiterate.

“One of things that are interesting here is the very low rating of politicians. I know politicians are disliked most places, but this is particularly kind of disrespecting of politicians,” said Kosmin.