@incollection{van_den_toren_science_2020, location = {Oxford}, title = {Do Science and Scientific Education Contribute to Secularization in Africa? An Exploration Among Christian Academics and Students in Abidjan and Yaoundé.}, abstract = {In this article, some major outcomes of the research from the project ‘Science and Religion in French-speaking Africa’ are approached from Western perspectives on secularization. Some scholars presuppose a link between science and scientific education and secularization. Based on the analysis of the discourses of groups of Christian academics and Masters students from two major university cities in francophone Africa, Abidjan and Yaoundé, the author defends the thesis that these discourses are not dominated by the strict separation between science and faith that is introduced by the French scholarly system and still in force at all state universities in Ivory Coast and Cameroon. In these discourses no autonomous space for science is created. The mainline of the argument of the discourses is orientated towards an integral understanding of sciences and faith which allows faith to be part of scientific deliberations. From this perspective, science is not contributing to secularization in its Western European appearance. There are, however, some tendencies in the discourses that indicate incentives of a separation between science and faith, especially in the discourses from Abidjan. These are analyzed in the light of the central thesis. Finally, the crucial role of the churches is highlighted when it comes to future developments in the relation between sciences and faith.}, pages = {71--83}, booktitle = {Is Africa Incurably Religious? Secularization and Discipleship in Africa}, publisher = {Regnum}, author = {Bom, Klaas}, editor = {van den Toren, Benno and Bangura, J. Bosco and Seed, Richard E.}, date = {2020}, }