May 2019 Newsletter
In this Clergy Letter Project update, you’ll find the following six items:
- A Free Book to Help Prepare for Evolution Weekend 2020;
- Astrobiology News for May 2019: Astroethics: Environmentalism & Ethics Meet Extraterrestrial Life;
- God Loves Science;
- If Science Needs Proof, Can Religion Offer Truth?;
- The Science We Take on Faith; and
- The Link Between Creationism and Racism.
1. A Free Book to Help Prepare for Evolution Weekend 2020
I recognize that February 2020 seems like a long way off but, believe it or not, it is time to begin building our list of participants for Evolution Weekend 2020 (14-16 February 2020). To help you make an early commitment to participate in our 15th annual event, and with the generosity of Wipf and Stock, I’m delighted to be able to offer you free copies of a new book they’ve just published. The book, When Judaism Meets Science, was written by Roger Price, a good friend of The Clergy Letter Project, and it has received rave reviews.
Rabbi Geoff Mitelman, Clergy Letter Project member and director of Sinai and Synapses, has written, “When Judaism Meets Science explores some of the most important and fascinating questions at the intersection of scientific thought and religious living. In a clear, engaging way, Roger Price helps break the myth that science and religion are inherently in conflict, and instead educates us on how we can find wisdom from both sources.”
Similarly, Lawrence A. Hoffman, Professor Emeritus of Liturgy, Worship and Ritual at Hebrew Union College had wonderful things to say about the book: “When Judaism Meets Science is a rare masterpiece of a book, the best of its kind, well researched, brilliantly argued, lucidly written, totally engrossing, and a model of moral and intellectual honesty. I consider it required reading for anyone intent on charting a course where religion and science must both have something to say—the kind of book that you think you have been waiting for all your life, and happily discover that the wait is over.”
When Judaism Meets Science might just be the perfect book to help you organize your Evolution Weekend 2020 event! If you agree, let me know and I’ll award a free copy (you pay for postage) to every fourth person who asks until all copies are claimed.
_____ Please enter me in the drawing to win a free copy of When Judaism Meets Science. If selected, I agree to pay $5 for postage and handling.
______ I plan to participate in Evolution Weekend 2020. Please add me to the growing list of participants.
Name of Congregation:
Location:
Your Name:
In addition to providing free copies of the book, Wipf and Stock is also offering a steep discount to Clergy Letter Project members who buy the book directly from their website. So, if you don’t want to enter your name for a chance to win a free book, or if you’re not a winner, you will receive a 40 percent discount if you enter the code PRICE19 at checkout. This discount is good through June 2019.
2. Astrobiology News for May 2019: Astroethics: Environmentalism & Ethics Meet Extraterrestrial Life
In this month’s Astrobiology News, Clergy Letter Project consultant and Adler Planetarium astronomer Grace Wolf-Chase takes a personal look at our looming environmental crisis. Please read to the end of her essay for a special free offer!
The title of my news this month deliberately mirrors the title of the wonderful book published late last year, Astrotheology: Science and Theology Meet Extraterrestrial Life, edited by CLP member Ted Peters. My son, Jason, and I recently led an adult class at our church that examined some of the topics raised in the last part of this book in light of pressing environmental issues on Earth. Our tag-team presentation utilized my background in astrophysics and Jason’s in environmental science and ethics. Employing science fiction’s successful method of critiquing human behavior by shifting the focus to aliens, we viewed the ending to the famous 1962 Twilight Zone episode, “To Serve Man,”(1) as a lead-in to a discussion about the horrors and unsustainability of animal agriculture, global climate change, and humanity’s much-less-than-stellar record as stewards of planet Earth.
A recent UN report laid out the devastating impact humanity has had on nature.(2) The full report, compiled by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services,(3) is 1,800-pages long and draws on 15,000 reference materials. The 40-page summary for policymakers presents a powerful indictment of how humans have treated their only home. Yann Laurans of the French policy research institute says, “Land use now appears as the major driver of the biodiversity collapse, with 70% of agriculture related to meat production.” Increasingly, both environmental and ethical arguments cite the necessity for transformational change, including shifting away from using economic growth as a measure of quality of life. As the title of Mike Berners-Lee’s recent book suggests, There Is No Planet B.(4)
Environmental ethics was an important topic at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Toronto last November. One of the exhibit booths that caught my eye was a display by the Interfaith Vegan Coalition, which “declares that all life is sacred and interconnected. Our mission is to work with people of all faith and secular wisdom traditions to end human-caused violence, domination, and exploitation toward all beings.” You can find resources for many faith traditions on their website.(5)
Astrobiologist David Grinspoon suggests that what truly demarcates the beginning of the geologic era that has been called the Anthropocene is also the answer to the question of what distinguishes human beings from other species on our planet: “We are the species that can change the world and come to see what we are doing.”(6) In other words, we are the one species on Earth that can both understand and do something about the impact of our presence and activity on our planet. The questions remain, will we act on this knowledge, and will we act in time?
Until next month,
Grace Wolf-Chase, Ph.D. (gwolfchase@adlerplanetarium.org)
1. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734684/
2. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-48169783
3. https://www.ipbes.net/
4. https://www.amazon.com/There-No-Planet-Handbook-Break/dp/1108439586
5. https://www.idausa.org/campaign/sustainable-activism/interfaith-vegan-coalition/
6. https://aeon.co/essays/enter-the-sapiezoic-a-new-aeon-of-self-aware-global-change
Special Bonus: In her opening paragraph above, Grace mentions an exciting new book edited by Clergy Letter Project member Ted Peters, Astrotheology: Science and Theology Meet Extraterrestrial Life. A number of months back, based upon the generosity of the publisher, I offered free copies of the book to Clergy Letter Project members who thought the book might help them prepare for Evolution Weekend. Because a handful of those winning a free book failed to claim them, I have some remaining and I’m offering them again to members for free.
_____ Please enter me in the drawing to win a free copy of Astrotheology: Science and Theology Meet Extraterrestrial Life. If selected, I agree to pay $5 for postage and handling.
______ I plan to participate in Evolution Weekend 2020. Please add me to the growing list of participants.
Name of Congregation:
Location:
Your Name:
3. God Loves Science
Clergy Letter Project members Reverend John Elford and Reverend Lisa Blaylock from University United Methodist Church, Austin, TX created a six part series on faith and science entitled “God Loves Science.” The series was very well received and I suspect that many of you will want to review their sermons which can be found on our sermon page and on the church’s webpage.
_____ This wonderful series prompted me to commit to participating in Evolution Weekend 2020. Please add me to the growing list of participants:
Name of Congregation (or other group):
Location:
Your Name:
4. If Science Needs Proof, Can Religion Offer Truth?
Our sister organization, Sinai and Synapses, consistently offers interesting essays each month. A recent such essay entitled “If Science Needs Proof, Can Religion Offer Truth?” was written by Clergy Letter Project member Rabbi Rachel Ain.
Rabbi Ain wrote, “I believe deeply in science in order to understand our relationships, our health, and ambitions, our opportunities, and so much more. This is why I was so pleased with how our multi-layered science symposium, held in January at Sutton Place Synagogue, was executed. Through the voices of scientists, doctors, and a genealogist, in partnership with individuals whose expertise is their lived experience of becoming Jewish, those in attendance could see how science and genetics play a role – but not the only role – in determining what a Jewish community looks like.
“Why is this important? In today’s climate, especially our political one, the muddy center, where we hold many view points (often in tension) is becoming a very lonely place to live (though I still try!). We are seeing extremes on both sides – the far right and the far left. We are seeing this both in the United States and Israel, and we have veered dangerously into areas where racist tendencies are being embraced....
“It is ok for people to have disagreements – on politics, on faith, on religion, on leadership. But we need to understand how to be in dialogue with one another. Rabbi Hillel said, “If I am not for myself who will be for me, but if I am only for myself, what am I?” The ability to hold both of these truths (the values of particularism and universalism), just as we hold those of science and religion, are crucial at a time where people generally only speak to those with whom they already agree.”
I suspect that you’ll want to read Rabbi Ain’s full article which you can do by clicking here!
5. The Science We Take on Faith
The above item mentioned the interesting essays published regularly by Sinai and Synapses. Another recent one was adopted from a talk delivered by MIT physicist and novelist Alan Lightman. The piece is entitled “The Science We Take on Faith” and deals, in part, with the twin ideas that the universe obeys rules, rules that are potentially understandable by humans, and that although scientists search for the truth, they can never be certain that they’ve found it.
Consider Lightman’s own words, words more articulate than mine: “science demands proof for what it believes. But there is something that scientists believe without proof, and that cannot be proved, and it’s something I call the central doctrine of science. This is basically the belief that everything in the physical world obeys laws, and those laws are the same everywhere in the universe…. There’s another belief in science that cannot be proven and it’s related. And that is our belief that there is a final theory…. A final theory would be a theory that was not an approximation to a deeper one – an ultimate theory, perfect, from which, in principle, you could calculate anything in the universe without approximation. The irony there is that even if we had a final theory, we would never be able to prove that it was the final theory, or know that we were in possession of it, because as I said, with the central doctrine of science, you could never be certain that tomorrow there might not be some phenomena that violated the predictions of the theory.”
Lightman ties these ideas together with the nature of faith and religious understanding. You can read his full essay by clicking here.
6. The Link Between Creationism and Racism
Over the years I’ve presented a fair number of pieces written by Paul Braterman, a member of The Clergy Letter Project’s list of scientific consultants. I think it is fair to say that none have been more topical or better referenced than his essay examining the links between the creationist movement and racism. Take a look at this striking piece of scholarship and I guarantee that you won’t be disappointed.
Concluding Thoughts
The Clergy Letter Project has recently crossed two membership milestones. Our Christian Clergy Letter has now attracted more than 15,000 signatures while all five of our Clergy Letters combined have now exceeded 16,500 signatures. Neither of these accomplishments could have occurred without the efforts of many of you. We have created a movement, a movement demonstrating that religion and science can be compatible and that they often reach very similar conclusions about critically important issues.
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