Mathematicians’ Religious Affiliations and Professional Practices: The Case of Charles

This paper reports on the second of three case studies, all intended to explore the implications of religious affiliation in the professional lives of mathematicians. These case studies yield implications for various topics within the field of mathematics education. For example, each of the first two cases has revealed a religious influence on the participant’s childhood decision to study mathematics. Naturally, we might conclude that such an influence exists for many school-aged, religious mathematics students. Other implications range from the mutual influence of students’ mathematical and religious practices to the religious value of teaching and researching mathematics. In this spirit, I report on my experiences with Charles, the second of the three mathematicians of my study. One might find religious implications for various professions, but professional mathematics provides particularly interesting cases: Mathematics, as a discipline, has a long reputation for providing truth and certainty. Though more recently this reputation has been called into question (Kline, 1980), there is something about the context-free, abstract nature of mathematics that makes the subject seem incontrovertible. Yet religion is often considered as an avenue to Truth. In fact, I recall one of my undergraduate mathematics professors proclaiming that “mathematics is the only truth with the possible exception of theology.” Well then, how might these two truths co-exist? In a previous paper (Norton, 2002), I reported on the first of the three case studies concerning the relationship between mathematicians’ religious beliefs and professional practices. From my experiences with that participant—a Jewish man named Joseph—I concluded that mathematicians must reconcile their practices with their life philosophies or religions in order to make their mathematical practice meaningful. This reconciliation is difficult when mathematical thought and religious beliefs (and values) are viewed as contradictory. In fact, such a view is the case for Charles. “If the scientific community concedes even one miraculous event, then how can it credibly contest the view that the world (and all its fossilized relics) was created in one instant just 6,000 years ago?” (Singham, 2000, p. 428). Singham’s short statement summarizes the ongoing conflict between religious belief (especially Judeo-Christian beliefs) and scientific thought. Nord’s reply to such questions, on the other hand, anticipates one possible resolution by noting that evolution and other scientifically defined processes may just be “God’s way of doing things” (1999, p. 30). The purpose of this paper is to analyze the similar conflict and resolution experienced by Charles so that we might draw conclusions for mathematics education from his struggle. Indeed, an emergent theme from this case—the paucity of value for secular study (and, indeed the devaluation of many scientific branches that seem to contradict Biblical truth)—may have important implications for the work of mathematics teachers in secondary schools in the United States.