December 2019 Newsletter
In this Clergy Letter Project update, you’ll find the following six items:
- Evolution Weekend 2020: Free Book Offer;
- Astrobiology News for December 2019: On Science Fiction, Astrobiology, and Citizen Science;
- Does Expertise Matter and Other Pressing Issues;
- Membership Update: Expanding Numbers;
- Should The Clergy Letter Take a Stand on The Climate Crisis: Vote Now; and
- Livestream an Evolution Weekend Event.
1. Evolution Weekend 2020: Free Book Offer
Evolution Weekend 2020 (14-16 February 2020) is quickly approaching. If you haven’t yet signed up to participate, please do so now. Since so many new members have joined in the last month, let me provide a quick refresher course on the nature of Evolution Weekend.
Evolution Weekend is a distributed event in which each local congregation (or other entity) participates by doing something it believes will be beneficial and interesting to raise the quality of the discussion over the relationship between religion and science. Some congregations listen to a sermon while others have a lunch-time discussion. Others listen to a guest speaker while others offer a class for children on the topic. Still others simply put a note in their weekly bulletin addressing the issue. Whatever you think is appropriate for your congregation is absolutely appropriate. To date, we’ve reached upwards of one million people directly and many times that amount via media reports.
Two more points. First, this year the membership of The Clergy Letter Project voted “How Science and Religion Can Work Together to Deal with the Problems of the Climate Crisis” to be the theme for Evolution Weekend 2020. Please feel free to address this theme in your event but you should also feel free to structure your event in such a way that ignores our theme if that makes more sense for your congregation. Second, although Evolution Weekend is scheduled for 14-16 February 2020, you can participate any time in the vicinity if that particular weekend doesn’t work for you.
What’s important is that you do something to advance the dialogue – and that you sign up so you can be added to our growing list of participants.
In case you’re still not certain what to do for Evolution Weekend, I’m pleased to announce that Carol Hill, a good friend of The Clergy Letter Project, working with her publisher, has made a number of copies of her new book available to members. The book is entitled A Worldview Approach to Science and Scripture and it might provide exactly the right sort of information to organize your event.
The book has been very well received. Deborah Haarsma, president of BioLogos, noted that “Carol Hill takes both Scripture and science seriously, affirming the inspiration of the Bible and the evidence for biological evolution.” And Ken Keathley, professor of theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote, “This is one of the best one-volume works on the creation/evolution dialogue in print.” High praise, indeed. You can learn more about the book here.
If you believe that A Worldview Approach to Science and Scripture will help you prepare for Evolution Weekend and if you would like a free copy, let me know using the form below. I’ll award a copy to every fourth person who asks until all copies are claimed.
_____ Please enter me in the drawing to win a free copy of A Worldview Approach to Science and Scripture. If selected, I agree to pay $5 for postage and handling.
_____ Yes, I want to help keep the movement of bringing religion and science together alive. Please sign me up to participate in Evolution Weekend 2020.
Name of Congregation (or other institution):
Location:
Your Name:
_____ I don’t need a copy of the book but I would like to be added to the list of those participating in Evolution Weekend 2020.
Name of Congregation (or other institution):
Location:
Your Name:
2. Astrobiology News for December 2019: On Science Fiction, Astrobiology, and Citizen Science
In this month’s Astrobiology News, Clergy Letter Project consultant and Adler Planetarium astronomer Grace Wolf-Chase reflects on the columns she’s written for The Clergy Letter Project over the past seven years and announces a prize for the two-millionth Zooniverse registrant.
It’s hard to believe that I’ve been writing monthly astrobiology columns for the CLP e-newsletter for nearly seven years!(1) It seems my colleagues in Marketing at the Adler Planetarium like the pieces I’ve written, since they recently asked me to update my December 2016 column, “On Star Wars, Hope and Imagining the Future,” for an Adler blog, “Exoplanets: Sci-Fi vs. Fact,”(2) in preparation for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the last installment in the series of three trilogies that began more than 40 years ago. Like Star Trek, the Star Wars franchise has inspired the imaginations of generations, and will likely continue to do so long after those of us who witnessed the beginnings of these pop-culture phenomena are gone.
In one of my early CLP astrobiology columns (August 2013), I discussed the role Jupiter’s satellite, Europa, played in the film based on 2010: Odyssey Two, Arthur Clarke’s 1982 sequel to his 1968 novel 2001: A Space Odyssey. I also noted that Guy Consolmagno (currently Director of the Vatican Observatory, and fellow science fiction geek) suggested that Europa should have a subsurface liquid ocean in his 1975 master’s thesis at MIT, a prediction that has been supported by spacecraft data over the subsequent years. Just last month, the journal Nature Astronomy announced the direct detection of water vapor on Europa.(3)
The possibility of extant life in a subsurface ocean on Europa has motivated NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) to prioritize missions scheduled for launch to this icy world in the next five years.(4) NASA’s Europa Clipper mission will carry nine science instruments to study Europa from orbit to determine the thickness of Europa’s icy shell, the depth and salinity of its ocean, and to study the chemical makeup of plumes emanating from Europa’s interior. Essentially, this mission will learn as much as possible about Europa’s potentially habitable subsurface environment without facing the technological challenges of penetrating the thick, icy surface, or the ethical issues of contaminating a pristine environment.
In parallel, ESA is developing the JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) to study the complex relationship between Jupiter and its subsurface-ocean-bearing satellites, Ganymede, Europa, and Callisto. Together, the Europa Clipper and JUICE will gather critical information that could pave the way for a future Europa Lander,(5) although the latter is only in the concept stage of development, with a timeline yet-to-be-determined. Still, I can’t help but wonder whether I’ll ever write an astrobiology column announcing evidence for extraterrestrial life, either in our Solar System or beyond!
Finally, in my December 2014 column, I reported that the online citizen-science platform Zooniverse passed its one-million volunteers mark. On December 12, 2019 Zooniverse celebrated its 10th birthday (I won’t mention which birthday I celebrated that same day.)(6) At 1,949,035 registered volunteers, there’s still time to reach two million before the year runs out – and there’s a special prize lined up for the two-millionth registrant. So, if you’ve been considering our appeal to incorporate Zooniverse in your 2020 Evolution Weekend activities, this would be a particularly good time to sign up!
Happy Holidays, and Peace & Blessings in 2020,
Grace Wolf-Chase, Ph.D. (gwolfchase@adlerplanetarium.org)
1. http://theclergyletterproject.org/Resources/Astrobiology.html
2. https://www.adlerplanetarium.org/exoplanets-scifi-vs-fact/
3. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-019-0933-6
4. See https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/missions/europa-clipper/ and https://sci.esa.int/web/juice
5. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/europa-lander/
6. https://blog.zooniverse.org/2019/12/12/zooniverse-is-10-today/
3. Does Expertise Matter and Other Pressing Issues
I was recently invited to participate in a discussion about the relationship between religion and science with the hosts of the podcast Down the Wormhole. As I explained in the October newsletter, Down the Wormwhole was created with the goal of having robust and civil conversations about issues at the interface between religion and science.
The discussion we had dealt with many topics such as the importance of expertise, the problems with teaching creationism under the guise of science and the damage that does to both religion and science, and the origins of The Clergy Letter Project. I want to thank the hosts of Down the Wormhole for their invitation and for their insights. I hope you’ll find the discussion as interesting as I did. You can listen here.
4. Membership Update: Expanding Numbers
As I write these words, 16,996 clergy members have signed one of our five Clergy Letters. It has been a pure pleasure to watch the number of clergy members joining our efforts increase on a daily basis. As our numbers increase, our reach, our ability to demonstrate the compatibility of religion and science grows.
Let’s increase our membership by another thousand colleagues. If each of you reach out to just one colleague, imagine how many more of us there would be. Please ask a fellow clergy member to sign one of our Clergy Letters – it’s that simple. Ask a colleague to drop me a line (mz@theclergyletterproject.org) and our numbers will grow dramatically. You can assure anyone you contact that we’ve never asked members for money, we’ve never shared member’s addresses with any third party, and we never flood members’ e-mail boxes with a spate of e-mail messages. Thank you for every contact you’re willing to make. We are making a difference in the understanding of religion and science, and we are raising the quality of the discourse on this difficult topic. But we can do even more as our numbers continue to grow.
5. Should The Clergy Letter Take a Stand on The Climate Crisis: Vote Now
The frequency with which I receive requests from clergy members for a letter dealing with our climate crisis has increased of late. Given this increase, coupled with the theme adopted by membership for Evolution Weekend 2020 as well as our previous votes authorizing our endorsement of The Peoples Climate March and the March for Science, I believe that it is time to see if membership would like to take steps to create a Clergy Letter Concerning the Climate Crisis.
I want to make one point as clearly as possible at the outset: if a Clergy Letter Concerning the Climate Crisis is created, those signing one of our existing Clergy Letters will not automatically be seen as endorsing this new Letter. Only a signature on the new Letter will constitute support for its content.
With all of that I mind, I am asking for a vote of the membership of The Clergy Letter Project to determine whether we should create and promote a Clergy Letter Concerning the Climate Crisis.
______ Yes, I’m in favor of there being a Clergy Letter Concerning the Climate Crisis
______ I’m willing to work on drafting such a Letter
______ No, I don’t believe The Clergy Letter Project should create and promote a Clergy Letter Concerning the Climate Crisis
Please submit your vote, by replying to this note, prior to the end of the year.
6. Livestream an Evolution Weekend Event
As they have for the past six years, our sister organization WesleyNexus is sponsoring a large-scale Evolution Weekend event and, as they have in the past, they are both livestreaming the event and providing a videotape of it for future use. Their event for Evolution Weekend 2020 is entitled "PATRIARCHY: In Science, in Education and in the Church” and consists of a panel discussion with three distinguished speakers. You can read more about the event here. This event is scheduled for 4:00 pm on Sunday 9 February 2020.
______ This event looks perfect for Evolution Weekend 2020. My congregation would love to participate. Please add us to the growing list of participants for Evolution Weekend 2020.
Name of Congregation (or other group):
Location:
Your Name:
Concluding Thoughts
In this holiday season, I wish all of you the very best and hope for a better 2020 than we’ve seen in 2019. I hope we are able to make significant progress on combatting the problems associated with the climate crisis. I hope we can find ways to support those among us who are the neediest. I hope we find ways to welcome those who come to our country looking for a better life. I hope we can find ways to have civil, productive conversations about complex topics. And I hope that we can continue to demonstrate how religion and science can be compatible.
On a personal level, I wish each and every one of you a healthy, happy and productive new year.
Finally, as always, I want to thank you for your continued support and as I do every month, I urge you to take one simple action. Please share this month’s Newsletter with a colleague or two (or post a link via any social media platform you use) and ask them to add their voices to those promoting a deep and meaningful understanding between religion and science. They can add their signatures to one of our Clergy Letters simply by dropping me a note at mz@theclergyletterproject.org. Together we are making a difference.
Michael
Michael Zimmerman
Founder and Executive Director
The Clergy Letter Project
www.theclergyletterproject.org
mz@theclergyletterproject.org