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Head of dialogue sees optimism in science-religion relationship |
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By Felix Rivera - Catholic News Service
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Wednesday, 23 June 2010 |
A physicist, bioethicist and minister walk into a bar.
One asks, "Does a clone have a soul?"
The minister says it is a mystery of God's wonder.
The bioethicist rebukes the minister, saying it is just a part of
evolution and, without a doubt, the clone has a soul.
The physicist is uncertain, saying there is still room for mystery.
This comic story by Jennifer Wiseman was the opener to a panel
discussion on the re-envisioning of dialogue between religion and
science.
"Most people are tired of the perception of conflict," said Wiseman, the
new director of the Dialogue on Science, Ethics and Religion at the
American Association for the Advancement of Science.
"There is a common misunderstanding by the people that all scientists
are not religious believers," she said.
According to a four-year poll put out by Rice University researcher
Elaine Ecklund, 50 percent of scientists are religious believers. Many
scientists who said they are not believers still felt something
spiritual.
The poll looked at the religious leanings of 1,700 scientists around the
country.
Wiseman, who brings to her job a strong personal faith, said there is no
need for conflict between two areas of study that attempt to answer
different questions.
"Both religion and science can inspire a sense of awe and humility," she
said.
The history of tension between the two goes back to the time of Galileo
Galilei and beyond.
In the 17th century, when the heliocentric theory was gaining ground,
the Catholic Church condemned the ideas brought forth by Galileo and put
him under house arrest for the remainder of his life.
His reputation was restored in 1992 by a special Vatican commission
established by Pope John Paul II.
Though the argument between Galileo and Pope Urban VIII is
over-popularized, it serves as an example of the often fragile
relationship between science and religion.
For scientists who are religious, Wiseman said, science is a way for
believers to better understand God's works.
"Science can offer detailed information on the workings of nature --
down to the subatomic scale," Wiseman said. "The same sense of wonder
can inspire religious faith and worship."
Wiseman, an astrophysicist for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center,
replaces Connie Bertka, who held the position for about eight years.
The June 16 panel discussion, titled "Re-Envisioning the Science and
Religion Dialogue," took place in Washington and was sponsored by the
American Association for the Advancement of Science, an international
nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public about science.
The speakers were William Phillips, David Anderson, Howard Smith and
Richard Potts.
Wiseman, as moderator, asked each of the panelists to speak about their
careers and their thoughts on the religion-science dialogue.
"The fight of rationality (science) versus humanity (religion) doesn't
make sense to me," said Smith, an astrophysicist at the
Harvard-Smithsonian Center, who described himself as an observant Jew.
In an attempt to resolve the fight, the panelists agreed on several
basic principles when entering dialogue. The first was no name-calling.
"Scientists like to call religious folk superstitious idiots and
religious folk like to call scientists evil incarnate," said Phillips, a
physicist who won a Nobel Prize in 1997.
Wiseman said religious leaders should put science in a good light for
spiritual communities.
All of the panelists said that instead of being confrontational, science
and religion should seek to work together.
"It is always easy to blame the other camp," said Potts, curator of the
National Museum of Natural History's Hall of Human Origins, an exhibit
that focuses on the evolution of the human species.
The panelists said a climate of civil dialogue must exist.
"We have to make a bridge between science and religion," said Anderson,
founder of Bridgeway Community Church in Columbia, Md. "We have to be
better listeners than talkers."
Phillips said the media has stopped the construction of that bridge.
"The media only wants to report on a fight," he said.
According to recent polls, Potts said, people tend to overemphasize the
conflict between religion and science.
It is important that there be "a respectful and welcoming place when it
comes to dialogue," he said.
People should come with a will to learn, Potts said.
For the dialogue to come to fruition, Smith said both parties should
abstain from putting on a "reverse-conversion" attitude.
The panelists also agreed that an interest in science should be fostered
among the public.
"Scientific concepts like evolution should be approachable to religious
communities," said Potts.
Evolution, he said, is one of the main causes of misunderstanding.
Smith said people should remain open to religious and scientific values.
"The law of physics becomes more relevant when linked to something
people care about," said Smith. "That is religion."
After the dialogue, Wiseman described to Catholic News Service some
suggestions she said could help foster better dialogue between science
and religion.
"We need to end the conflict model and cut through the bad stereotypes
of both parties," she said.
Wiseman would like to meet with interested seminaries and religious
leaders as a way to start building a bridge of dialogue.
"The seminaries have been coming to us and requesting educational
support," Wiseman said. "Religious leaders want to know how to talk
about the relationship of science and faith. I sense a great thirst in
the religious community to bring science into their teaching, into the
excitement of their lives and bring it into healthy contact with
theology."
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