Spanish Newspapers’ Treatment of Conflicts Between Science and Religion

Abstract

The relationship between religious beliefs and scientific knowledge is complex. In contemporary culture, conflicts between the two are inevitable. This study analyzed the strategies employed by three newspapers, ABC, El Mundo, and El País, in treating these conflicts. A content analysis was performed to determine whether these newspapers employed a confrontation or conciliation strategy. Our results show how the newspapers held various editorial orientations regarding science and religion. In conclusion, their general strategy was to avoid explicit confrontation by steering the discussion on conflicting views between science and religion toward academic fields, such as historiography, and debates about their sociopolitical and cultural effects.