November 2019 Newsletter

In this Clergy Letter Project update, you’ll find the following seven items:

1. Evolution Weekend 2020: Free Book Offer

Independent of our annual theme, Evolution Weekend every year is about creating a space to discuss the relationship between religion and science. The National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) has just published a book that addresses exactly this point. The book is entitled Making Sense of Science and Religion: Strategies for the Classroom and Beyond and one of its four co-editors, Dr. Ian Binns, is a member of The Clergy Letter Project’s list of scientific consultants.

As the publisher explains, the book “is divided into three parts:

Historical and cultural background plus a framework for addressing science-religion issues in a legal, constitutional manner;
Guidance on teaching specific scientific concepts at every grade level; and
Advice for engaging families, administrators, school boards, policymakers, and faith communities.

“The book’s authors are a mix of K–12 teachers, college professors, and experts from organizations such as the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. The authors believe that educators have an ethical obligation to minimize the perceived conflict between science and religion.”

NSTA has generously provided a number of copies for me to distribute for free to members who believe the book will be useful in their preparation for Evolution Weekend 2020 (14-16 February 2020). If this describes you, please let me know and I’ll award copies until all are claimed.

_____ Please enter me in the drawing to win a free copy of Making Sense of Science and Religion. 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:

If you’re not selected to receive a free copy of Making Sense of Science and Religion, and if you hurry, you can purchase one directly from NSTA Press and receive a $10 discount. Simply use the promo code NOV19 to receive your discount, but hurry, the discount is only good until 27 November.

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2. Astrobiology News for November 2019: Exoplanet Hunting Around the World

In this month’s Astrobiology News, Clergy Letter Project consultant and Adler Planetarium astronomer Grace Wolf-Chase discusses some of the excitement associated with the citizen science program Zooniverse. Grace and I will have more news for you about Zooniverse and Evolution Weekend in the coming week – keep an eye open for a special e-mail note!

What do a retired California computer executive, an Australian car mechanic, and a Canadian aerospace machinisthave in common? No – this isn’t the beginning of a bad joke. All three of these people have made remarkable discoveries while searching for exoplanets(1) in Zooniverse, the world’s largest and most popular platform for online citizen science.(2) Two of these exoplanet hunters – Kian Jek and Daryll LaCourse - received prestigious Chambliss Amateur Achievement Awards from the American Astronomical Society for their contributions.(3)

Late last month, the Adler Planetarium won a 2019 Chicago Innovation Collaboration Award for Zooniverse.(4) The discovery by exoplanet hunters of what has been described as “the strangest star in the Galaxy”(5) provides an excellent example of the role of collaboration in working to solve a perplexing scientific puzzle. Many explanations have been proposed for the weird fluctuations in the light output of KIC 8562852 (also known as “Tabby’s Star” or “Boyajian’s Star”) – explanations ranging from orbiting exo-comets to alien megastructures!(6) Thus far, none of the explanations has been able to explain the bizarre behavior of this star satisfactorily.

Both professional and amateur astronomers are collaborating to explore the question, KIC 8462852: WTF? (Uh - that stands for, Where’s The Flux?) They’ve created an independent website dedicated to sharing ideas that might explain the star’s idiosyncrasies, and to raising money for conducting further observations to test these ideas.(7) Donations are gratefully acknowledged and memorabilia may be purchased through the online store.

Curiosity and the allure of a good mystery lie at the heart of the scientific enterprise. In his new book, Zooniverse creator Chris Lintott takes the reader on a journey through the many remarkable ways that people from all walks of life around the world are contributing to this enterprise.(8)

Until next month,

Grace Wolf-Chase, Ph.D. (gwolfchase@adlerplanetarium.org)

1. https://blog.planethunters.org/category/papers/page/2/
2. https://www.zooniverse.org
3. https://aas.org/grants-and-prizes/chambliss-amateur-achievement-award
4. https://chicagoinnovation.com/winners/adler-planetarium/
5. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/how-citizen-scientists-discovered-the-strangest-star-in-the-galaxy/
6. https://www.ted.com/talks/tabetha_boyajian_the_most_mysterious_star_in_the_universe
7. https://www.wherestheflux.com/about-us
8. C. Lintott, The Crowd and the Cosmos: Adventures in the Zooniverse (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2019)

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3. Why Should Christians Care for Creation?

Our good friends at BioLogos recently posted an interesting article entitled Why Should Christians Care for Creation? The piece is well written and thoughtful and while it focuses on a Christian perspective, there is much in it for people of other faiths, or of no faith, to appreciate. I hope you find the essay helpful in general and as you prepare for Evolution Weekend 2020.

_____ The BioLogos article has provided me with ideas and an additional incentive to participate in Evolution Weekend 2020. Please add us to the list of participating congregations.

Name of Congregation (or school group):
Location:
Your Name:

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4. Review of Climate Church, Climate World

What follows is a book review written by The Rev. William J. Graham, Jr., a long-time member of The Clergy Letter Project from Nebraska. As you’ll see, in addition to describing and praising the book, he points out opportunities for preaching suggestions that arise directly from the book. I hope the review might give some of you an added impetus to sign up to participate in Evolution Weekend 2020. To do so, simply let me know and I’ll proudly add you to our growing list.

Additionally, let me use this opportunity to invite you to submit reviews of other books you believe members of The Clergy Letter Project might find interesting.

Climate Church, Climate World: How People of Faith Must Work for Change by Jim Antal (Rowman & Littlefield) 2018.

Reviewed by The Rev. William J. Graham, Jr.

For several years now, I've been saying that climate change is the most serious issue facing our entire planet. A few weeks ago, a fellow member of my town's Human Rights and Inclusion committee handed me this book to read. As I began reading it, I was especially impressed by the persons praising the book, so I emailed when Dr. Zimmerman, noting the pertinence of the topic for our next Evolution Weekend. He responded by asking me to write a review for our newsletter. I immediately answered "yes", but after finishing the book, I'm finding this to be a much more difficult task than I had anticipated.

"Climate Church, Climate World is an excellent motivational work and is certainly based upon scientific knowledge. However, foremost among those who would most benefit from this work are persons who have regular preaching responsibilities. One benefit worth noting is simply an increased awareness of the seriousness of the problem. A second is suggestions of what to preach. A third would be a basis for a small discussion group since each chapter ends with several discussion questions. This last possibility could be an excellent activity with could be tied to Evolution Weekend.

Antal describes planet earth as being a "climate crisis world", a term directly related to scientific knowledge. That scientific basis is scattered throughout the book and I doubt there is much disagreement between science and religion on either the situation with which we are confronted nor the seriousness of the problem.

What the book does well is to demonstrate why people of faith need to confront the climate crisis as a spiritual and moral problem, a problem which needs to be emphasized in the teaching and preaching by all religious leaders. Antal points out that the climate crisis "amplifies all forms of injustice - hunger, refugees, racism, poverty, inequality, deadly viruses, war". For him, the defense of creation is an issue of justice.

The appendix has very specific preaching suggestions for each chapter. The Introduction is "The Earth is the Lord's, Not Ours to wreck: Imperatives for a New oral Era". Chapter titles are: 1. "The Situation in Which We Find Ourselves"; 2. A"Loving God for a Broken World"; 3. "The Church Vocation Today"; 4. "The Marks of the Church in a Climate Crisis World"; 5. "Discipleship: Reorienting What We Prize"; 6. "Worship as a Pathway to Freedom"; 7. "Prophetic Preaching Freeing the Pulpit from Fear";.8. "Witnessing Together: Communal Action Can Free Us from Fear"; and 9. "Living Hope-filled Lives in a Climate Crisis World. An Epilogue is an imagined letter from a teenager in the year 2100.

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5. Neil deGrasse Tyson and Sensei Tony Stultz Discuss the Universe – and More

Sensei Tony Stultz, member of The Clergy Letter Project and author of the Buddhist Clergy Letter, has just posted a 10 part podcast of his extended interview with Neil deGrasse Tyson. I suspect you’ll find much of interest in the interview.

Additionally, I still have a couple of copies of Tony’s book, The Three Principles of Oneness: How Embodying the Cosmic Perspective Can Liberate Your Life, that I offered for free in last month’s newsletter. If you believe this book will help you prepare for Evolution Weekend 2020, please let me know and I’ll send you a one – until all copies are claimed.

_____ Please enter me in the drawing to win a free copy of The Three Principles of Oneness. 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 (or other group):
Location:
Your Name:

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6. A Climate of Hope: Scientists and Faith Communities Addressing the Climate Crisis

The American Association for the Advancement of Science’s (AAAS) Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion (DoSER) produces an annual Holiday Lecture. This year’s lecture is particularly relevant to The Clergy Letter Project’s Evolution Weekend Theme. The lecture is entitled “A Climate of Hope: Scientists and Faith Communities Addressing the Climate Crisis” and will include Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, climate scientist and director of Texas Tech University’s Climate Science Center, as a speaker as well as The Rt. Rev. Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori, XXVI Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church and a member of The Clergy Letter Project, as a discussant. This free lecture is scheduled for Tuesday, December 17, 2019 at 5:30 pm.

If you’re in Washington, DC, please think about attending the event live. The good news for those of you not in the DC area is that DoSER plans to livestream and record the event so everyone will be able to participate.

Information about livestreaming will be posted on the Holiday Lecture website.

______ This event looks perfect for Evolution Weekend 2020. Please add me to the growing list of participants.

Name of Congregation (or other group):
Location:
Your Name:

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7. Genesis, Environmentalism and Diversity: A Rabbi Explains

Rabbi Michael Cohen, a member of The Clergy Letter Project and rabbi emeritus of the Israel Congregation in Manchester Center, Vermont, currently teaches at Bennington College as well as the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies on Kibbutz Ketura, Israel. He recently published a moving essay entitled “Genesis: The story of creation, a message of diversity” in The Jerusalem Post which he shared with me.

Michael has deftly combined the twin themes of environmentalism and diversity, two themes that have been fully embraced by The Clergy Letter Project, into a clarion call for action. His essay is particularly pertinent given the theme members chose for Evolution Weekend 2020. I hope you learn as much from his writing as I have.

______ Indeed, Rabbi Cohen has provided me with some rich ideas to incorporate into Evolution Weekend 2020. Please add me to the growing list of participants.

Name of Congregation (or other group):
Location:
Your Name:

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Concluding Thoughts

I hope you found many of the resources I shared this month useful as you think about Evolution Weekend 2020. I also hope that, if you haven’t already done so, you sign up to participate. Finally, I hope you noticed and enjoyed the fact that there are many voices represented in this and in recent newsletters. Please continue to share items you think would be of interest to members with me.

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