February 2023 Newsletter
In this Clergy Letter Project update you’ll find the following seventeen items:
- Religion and Science Weekend 2023;
- Astrobiology News for February 2023: Two Talks of Interest;
- Reciprocal Causality in an Event-Filled World;
- Christianity and science are opposed...;
- The Scientist’s Psalm;
- Fr. George Coyne on Science and Faith;
- Our Common Humanity;
- Anti-Science and Anti-Semitism;
- Trouble on the Science Education Front in Montana;
- Promoting Creationism in Texas;
- The Goshen College Conference on Religion and Science;
- Is Artificial Intelligence A Threat To Christianity?;
- Should We Contact Aliens?;
- The Sacred Depths of Nature: Free Copies;
- A Trove of Articles from Covalence Magazine;
- Science, Religion, & Society: IRAS Webinar Series; and
- New Evolution/Creation Hymn Premieres.
1. Religion and Science Weekend 2023
Thank you to all who participated in Religion and Science Weekend. I hope that all of your events were well received and stimulated some good discussions. I’m delighted to say that the number of participants increased by approximately one-third from last year.
I have two requests. First, if you delivered a sermon for Religion and Science Weekend, please share it with me so I can add it to our sermon page.
Second, if you participated this year but you’re not yet listed on our Religion and Science Weekend page, please let me know so I can get you added.
Thanks again!
2. Astrobiology News for February 2023: Two Talks of Interest
In lieu of a formal Astrobiology News article this month by Grace Wolf-Chase, I’m announcing two of her upcoming talks that will likely interest you!
The first is an on-line talk entitled “Cosmic Creation Through the Ages” scheduled for 6 March at 6:30 Central Time. The lecture is part of the Epic of Creation course at Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago and you can read more about the talk here and register to participate by sending an e-mail to dglover@lstc.edu
The second is a webinar sponsored by The Institute for Theological Encounter with Science and Technology and is entitled “Preaching with the Sciences.” Grace will be part of an all-star panel on this webinar scheduled for 25 March 2023 at 9:00 am Central time. There is a $10 fee for the webinar, although it is free for “clergy, seminarians, and consecrated religious.” For more information and to register, please click here.
3. Reciprocal Causality in an Event-Filled World
The Reverend Joseph Bracken, a member of The Clergy Letter Project, recently had a book published by Rowman & Littlefield entitled Reciprocal Causality in an Event-Filled World. The publisher has provided a brief description that does a good job of explaining the book’s thesis:
Given the current sense of helplessness in dealing with environmental change and other urgent issues, a new world view is needed that emphasizes the unique contribution that individual citizens can make to the common good as opposed to their individual needs and desires. In a recent encyclical on the environment, Pope Francis set forth reasons from Scripture and Church teaching for this shift in perspective, but he did not provide a philosophically based foundation for this change of heart. To fill that gap, Joseph Bracken examines key writings of process-oriented philosophers like Henri Bergson and Alfred North Whitehead along with systems-oriented thinkers like Ludwig von Bertalanffy and Ervin Laszlo to create a systems-oriented understanding of the God-world relation.
In addition to that summary, I’m delighted to say that Joe has written an essay for our newsletter that provides even more details about the book. His essay is well worth reading and I suspect that it will encourage many of you to want to read the full book. The publisher has provided a discount code (LXFANDF30) that will yield a 30 percent discount if you order directly from them using this link.
4. Christianity and science are opposed...
The Reverend Jerry Farrell shared a quotation from Sir William Bragg, the winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1915, that I liked very much. I thought you might enjoy it as well!
“Christianity and science are opposed...but only in the same sense as that which my thumb and forefinger are opposed - and between them, I can grasp everything.”
5. The Scientist’s Psalm
Pastor Terry Defoe shared a sermon on Psalm 19, "the scientist's psalm," in the Winter 2023 issue of God and Nature, the publication of the American Scientific Affiliation. I thought you’d find it interesting.
6. Fr. George Coyne on Science and Faith
Fr. George V. Coyne, S.J., was director of Vatican Observatory from 1978 to 2006. In an essay published by the Vatican Observatory last month entitled “Fr. George Coyne: My Personal Manifesto (on Science and Faith),” Fr. Coyne outlines 11 points in the religion and science debate. I trust you’ll find what he has to say both interesting and useful.
7. Our Common Humanity
Drew Rick-Miller, co-director of Science for the Church, recently published an essay entitled “Our Common Humanity.” He opens his piece by quoting President Bill Clinton who spoke in 2000 celebrating the sequencing of the human genome. President Clinton said, “I believe one of the great truths to emerge from this triumphant expedition inside the human genome is that in genetic terms all human beings regardless of race are more than 99.9 percent the same.”
Given that the cogent argument Drew makes is fully in keeping with the position taken and articulated by The Clergy Letter Project, I thought you’d be interested in reading what he has to say.
8. Anti-Science and Anti-Semitism
In last month’s newsletter, I shared an interview with Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine and professor of pediatrics and molecular virology & microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston as well as the primary developer of a low-cost, patent-free Covid-19 vaccine that is being distributed widely in the developing world. Now I’m sharing an article entitled “Global Vaccinations: New Urgency to Surmount a Triple Threat of Illness, Antiscience, and Anti-Semitism” he recently published in Rambam Maimonides Medical Journal.
The article’s opening two sentences in the introduction explains the case he is making: “Because of rising antivaccine activism and some key global policy missteps, we risk eroding more than 70 years of global health gains. This is occurring through an enabled and empowered antiscience ecosystem, with anti-Semitism and the targeting of Jewish biomedical scientists at its core.”
9. Trouble on the Science Education Front in Montana
As our good friends at the National Center for Science Education explain, a new anti-science bill has been introduced in the Montana legislature. They note that the bill “would cripple science education in the state by excluding anything but ‘scientific fact’ from curriculum and instruction.” The bill defines "scientific fact" as "an indisputable and repeatable observation of a natural phenomenon." However, science is a process that works to develop theories to explain the workings of the natural world rather than a collection of “facts” that might change over time as more information is developed. Simply put, this draft bill, is a not-too-subtle attempt to exclude the teaching of evolution in public schools throughout the State of Montana.
10. Promoting Creationism in Texas
Our good friends at the National Center for Science Education also note that a bill introduced in the Texas legislature is designed to promote the teaching of creationism. This bill is yet another attempt to force the teaching of “the strengths and weaknesses” of any scientific theory presented to school children. Back in 2008, the New York Times published an editorial arguing the language of “strength and weaknesses “is code for teaching creationism." Although, fifteen years later, we should be well past revisiting this issue, it appears that Texas legislators are trying to recreate the past – and destroy science education in the process. We can’t let that happen!
11. The Goshen College Conference on Religion and Science
The annual Goshen College Conference on Religion and Science will be held this year on 10-12 March. This year’s keynote speaker will be Dr. Andrew Newberg, director of research at the Marcus Institute of Integrative Health and a physician at Jefferson University Hospital. He will be delivering three talks, the first two of which are free. The third, along with interactive sessions, require registration.
Dr. Newberg’s three lectures are entitled “How God Changes Your Brain,” “The Varieties of Spiritual Experience,” and “Principles of Neurotheology.”
You can participate via Zoom or in person and more information, including a link to register, can be found here.
12. Is Artificial Intelligence A Threat To Christianity?
On his Patheos blog, Keith Giles engaged in an interesting discussion with ChatGPT. Keith opened the dialogue by asking if artificial intelligence is a threat Christianity and went from there. In addition to yielding some thought-provoking content, the piece provides fascinating insight into how a discussion with artificial intelligence can take shape.
13. Should We Contact Aliens?
Elizabeth Fernandez has a Ph.D. in astrophysics and a passion for interfaith relations by promoting dialogue between faiths. She recently published an article on the Big Think webpage entitled “We may not be alone in the universe. Should we reach out?” I trust you’ll find it interesting.
14. The Sacred Depths of Nature: Free Copies
Dr. Ursula Goodenough, emeritus professor of biology at Washington University and a member of The Clergy Letter Project’s list of scientific consultants, has just published a second edition of her wonderful book, The Sacred Depths of Nature: How Life Emerged and Evolved. As you’ll see from what follows, she’s written a note about the book addressed to members of The Clergy Letter Project. And her publisher, Oxford University Press, has generously donated a number of free copies for me to distribute. They’ve also provided a discount code (ASPROMP8) good for 30 percent off any copies purchased from their website.
I’ll award a free copy to every fourth person who requests one, until all copies are claimed.
_____ Yes, please enter me in the drawing for a free copy of The Sacred Depths of Nature. I agree to cover the cost of postage and handling if I’m awarded a free copy.
Name:
To members of The Clergy Letter Project:
The mission of The Clergy Letter Project has been to infuse first the classrooms and then the traditional religions themselves with science-based understandings of Nature, notably biological evolution, thereby catalyzing various forms of integration between the two perspectives. We have also been blessed by the parallel trajectory taken by the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology and recently by the Temple of Understanding. Much progress is being made, albeit of course much is still to be done. It’s complicated.
My book, The Sacred Depths of Nature: How Life Emerged and Evolved (Oxford University Press, 2023) offers a variation on this theme. It explores the development of a new religious perspective, which I and others are calling a religious naturalist orientation. This orientation regards the natural world, including humans and their cultures, as our foundational meshwork, within which the faith traditions – including the pagan and indigenous -- are deeply valued strands, to be mined for their wisdom and experienced in wondrous ritual and art.
Religious naturalists take Nature not only to mind; we also take Nature to heart. We explore our foundational narrative – Everybody’s Story – for what it offers us along the 3 axes of the religious quest: 1) The Interpretive (what does Everybody’s Story tell me about the meaning of life?) 2) The Spiritual (in what ways does Everybody’s Story elicit awe and wonder, gratitude, reverence, assent, commitment, compassion, joy, and the astonishment of being alive at all)? 3)The (Eco)Moral (how does Everybody’s Story guide my moral sensibilities with other humans and with the planetary matrix within which we are embedded)? Everybody’s Story is replete with understandings of our interrelatedness with all other beings and the interdependence of all beings. Its speaks of emergence and inherent creativity. It celebrates our diversity. There is much wisdom to be mined.
The canonical science/religion interface entails exploring the traditions to find parameters that are consonant with science-based concepts. The RN trajectory instead starts with a science-based immersion in the natural world, in all its splendor, and explores the religious potential of this immersion, in spiritual alignment with the indigenous traditions. The religious traditions of past and present cultures are a part of nature and hence a part of our immersion.
My book offers my personal version of the religious naturalist orientation, as told in prose, poetry, and images; many other books along the RN axis are listed here. There is no canon, let alone dogma, called Religious Natural-ism. A book by theologian Karl Peters,Christian Naturalism: Christian Thinking for Living in This World Only (Wipf and Stock, 2022), for example, explores the naturalist orientation in a Christian context, and Dan Solomon explores it in a Jewish context. A site called Voices of Religious Naturalists lifts up the prose and poetry of many prominent persons I consider to be religious naturalists even when they don’t so self-describe (at least in public), possibly because they’ve not (yet) encountered the term. Notably, Pope Francis and Mikhail Gorbachev are included. I would very much appreciate your letting me know of other candidates for this list.
So what about God?
Most religious naturalists do not use God language, and when we do, God usually serves as the name given to that which is held to be deeply sacred, like the natural world or love or creativity. Belief in a supernatural God who created and can control Nature is not included in the RN perspective (as is also the case, of course, for Asian traditions, albeit these may include other faith-based concepts such as reincarnation). Instead, we offer alternatives, such as Todd Macalister’s Einstein’s God: A Way of Being Spiritual Without the Supernatural (Apocryphile Press, 2018), and we would be onboard with theologian Donald Crosby:
"Nature requires no explanation beyond itself. It has always existed and always will exist in some shape or form. Its constituents, principles, laws and relations are the sole reality. This reality takes on new traits and possibilities as it evolves inexorably through time, resulting in its current splendor."
The book may not resonate with your own orientation within the science/religion sphere, but it may be of value to others you know, including family and parishioners, for whom supernatural explanations are not, or are no longer, resonant but who value their traditions of origin and disagree that they merit dismissal, a position often voiced by “humanists.” I will be honored if you read it and would love feedback.
15. A Trove of Articles from Covalence Magazine
As usual, the latest issue of Covalence Magazine is filled with interesting pieces of relevance to members of The Clergy Letter Project. The focus of this month’s issue, perfect for Religion and Science Weekend, is Awe and AI. It includes a piece entitled “Will AI save us? Machine learning’s paradoxical mission to solve humanity’s climate change dilemma,” another entitled “Meditation more than brain deep” and an essay I wrote entitled “Might religion and science, working together, transform the world? It’s time to find out.” Do take a look; you won’t be disappointed.
16. Science, Religion, & Society: IRAS Webinar Series
The next installment of The Institute on Religion in an Age of Science’s (IRAS) Science, Religion, & Society Webinar Series is scheduled for 14 March 2023 at 4:00 pm Central Time. The session is entitled “Apprehending the Sacred Quality of Nature in an Age of Scientific Materialism” and the speaker will be Dr. Gregory Derry, Professor Emeritus of Physics at Loyola University Maryland. You can read more about this session and register to participate in this free webinar here.
17. New Evolution/Creation Hymn Premieres
The Reverend David Felten and his congregation, The Fountains, celebrated Religion and Science Weekend 2023 by premiering a fabulous new hymn written by Amanda Udis-Kessler. I hope you enjoy this recording.
Concluding Thoughts
With Religion and Science Weekend 2023 (barely) behind us, it’s time to look to the future. And it is clear that there is much work to be done. Science is (still) under attack by those who purposefully misunderstand the tentative nature of scientific conclusion, ignoring the fact that scientific knowledge accumulates incrementally. They refuse to understand that in our search for scientific truth, the scientific method allows us to disprove ideas but not to categorically prove ideas to be true. This is what gives science its power and makes it such an exciting field. Similarly, religion is being purposefully misunderstood – and being pitted against science. If we want to live in a better world, a cleaner world, a more sustainable world, a more equitable world, we need to make use of all the tools we have at our disposal. And that means utilizing both religion and science. I am proud to be a part of The Clergy Letter Project, a group of people who understand the importance of this call to action. Thank you for all you have done and all you will do.
Finally, 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. Spread the word; change the world. Together we are making a difference.
Michael
Michael Zimmerman
Founder and Executive Director
The Clergy Letter Project
www.theclergyletterproject.org
mz@theclergyletterproject.org