September 2021 Newsletter
In this Clergy Letter Project update you’ll find the following sixteen items:
- Evolution Weekend 2022: You’ve Selected a Theme;
- Astrobiology News for September 2021: Beyond Astrobiology;
- Religious Exemptions to Vaccine Mandates;
- The Anglican Rite Roman Catholic Church’s Position on Vaccination;
- Answers in Genesis, Climate Change and Vaccination;
- Grace Wolf-Chase Discusses Science-Engaged Worship;
- Evolution Now Accepted by a Majority of Americans;
- The Delta Variant and Evolution;
- Science, Nonscience and Nonsense;
- Greg Epstein Elected President of Harvard Chaplains;
- Questing as a Way of Life: Faith and Science Together;
- “Why I Bother About Creationism”;
- Br. Guy Consolmagno: “Your God is Too Small”;
- God’s Shrinking Space;
- A Magnificent Universe: A Contemplation of Human Purpose; and
- Repairing the World with Science Tikkun.
1. Evolution Weekend 2022: You’ve Selected a Theme
The Pandemic, Climate Change and Evolution: How Religion and Science, Working Together, Can Advance Our Understanding
I want to thank all of you who voted for a theme for Evolution Weekend 2022. As you can see, you’ve selected a theme!
Please remember that your Evolution Weekend event can directly address the theme selected by membership or not – whatever you believe is best for your congregation. The only absolute condition is that your event in some way helps enrich and inform the conversation about the compatibility of religion and science. You can do something big or something small! You can do something in Hebrew, in Latin or with a southern drawl. But please, please don’t do nothin’ at all!
While Evolution Weekend is scheduled for 11-13 February 2022, you can participate at any time in the temporal vicinity if your exact dates don’t work for you. I very much hope you opt to participate this year, our 16th annual celebration. Please let me hear from you.
_______ What a great theme! Please sign me up to participate in Evolution Weekend 2022.
Name:
Congregation or similar group:
Location:
2. Astrobiology News for September 2021: Beyond Astrobiology
In this month’s Astrobiology News Grace Wolf-Chase, Senior Scientist and Senior Education & Communication Specialist at the Planetary Science Institute as well as a Clergy Letter Project consultant, discusses some exciting ways Zooniverse has been used to bridge religion and science.
When I started writing Astrobiology News for the Clergy Letter Project more than eight years ago, part of the reason I chose an astrobiology theme, beyond its general public appeal and relevance to many theological and ethical discussions, was to underscore the importance of engaging expertise in many areas to address some of the big questions humanity has asked during our relatively short history on Earth. Certainly, “Does life exist beyond Earth” qualifies as one such question; however, beyond the questions of astrobiology are many other questions that pose critical and urgent challenges today. Questions like, How can we solve the climate crisis? How can we deal with COVID-19 and prepare for future pandemics? How can we solve world hunger? How can we better understand people who think differently than ourselves? How can we help young people find meaning and purpose in a world of seemingly increasing despair?
I don’t think I need to go on – you get the idea! Addressing these questions will require engaging minds across many fields of research, and instilling young people with a sense of purpose and confidence, while equipping them with tools to navigate an increasingly complex, pluralistic world that includes many perspectives and priorities. One of the motivations behind my pilot Engaging Faith-based Communities in Citizen Science through Zooniverse(1) initiative was to help diverse groups and individuals learn to see themselves as fellow contributors to human knowledge across whatever disciplines sparked their imaginations and interests, not just science.
I want to thank the many CLP members who filled out Zooniverse surveys.(2) From these, I learned that many of you are “not young” and are terribly over-extended in your pre- or post-retirement activities. Since this also describes me to a tee, I have an enormous amount of empathy for anyone and everyone who is reluctant to incur any further time commitments! So I thought I’d use my column this month to report on a few ways Zooniverse has been used during my initiative in the hopes of sparking the imaginations of those of you who continue to work with students, families, or youth groups.
Professor Sharon Grant(3) has been using Zooniverse with students in her History of Christianity classes at Hood Theological Seminary. Spring 2020 students formed small teams to work on different projects and relate what they were learning to material covered in her course. Students produced excellent papers reflecting on the relationship between their Zooniverseprojects(4) and course material. For example, students working on Hubble Asteroid Hunter reflected on religious implications of the potential threat of asteroids to life on Earth; students working on Notes from Nature reflected on the relationship of plant and animal habitat loss to human health; and students working on Parasite Safari reflected on the church’s ecological responsibility. Particularly creative papers by students who worked on Snapshot Elephants for Africa contained reflections relating social behaviors of male elephants to structures in the black church.
Zooniverse has also been used with youth and family programs, including Penguin Watch in a confirmation class exploring faith and science at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Marble Falls, Texas; Galaxy Zoo with middle- and high-school youth groups at Sunnyvale Presbyterian Church in Sunnyvale, California; and during predominantly African-American intergenerational summer camps sponsored by Hood Theological Seminary’s International Center of Faith, Science, and History (ICFSH) in partnership with the community organization Families and Communities Together (F.A.C.T.).(5) The summer 2021 camp theme included the climate crisis, and in one of the activities, I introduced families to Fossil Atmospheres,(6) where everyone can help track how Earth’s atmosphere has changed through time.
So as not to completely neglect the “astrobiology” part of this column, I’d like to mention that Planet Hunters TESS(7) recently uploaded a new batch of data for citizen scientists to explore. This marks the start of the fourth year of TESS observations, and the latest batch of uploaded data come from a wide swath of stars located in the Northern hemisphere, with the spacecraft’s boresight centered on coordinates in the constellation Draco.
In closing, I want to thank my good friend (whom I’ve yet to meet in person) Michael Zimmerman for helping to promote my initiative through The Clergy Letter Project, and for working so hard to build bridges across scientific and religious communities!
Until next month,
Grace
Grace Wolf-Chase (gwolfchase@gmail.com)
Senior Scientist & Senior Education & Communication Specialist, Planetary Science Institute (www.psi.edu/about/staffpage/gwchase)
Vice President, Center for Advanced Study in Religion and Science (CASIRAS: www.casiras.org)
1. https://sciencereligiondialogue.org/projects/zooniverse/
2. http://www.theclergyletterproject.org/Resources/Zooniverse.html
3. https://www.scienceforseminaries.org/school/hood-theological-seminary/
4. https://www.zooniverse.org/projects
5. https://www.hoodseminary.edu/Initiatives/international-center-of-faith-science-and-history/events
6. https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/laurasoul/fossil-atmospheres
7. https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/nora-dot-eisner/planet-hunters-tess
3. Religious Exemptions to Vaccine Mandates
The New York Times recently ran an op-ed piece by Curtis Chang, a former pastor and a co-founder of Christians and the Vaccine. The essay is entitled “I’m a Former Pastor, and I Don’t Believe in ‘Religious Exemptions’ to Vaccine Mandates.” The piece is powerful and well worth reading.
4. The Anglican Rite Roman Catholic Church’s Position on Vaccination
Archfather papa Rutherford of The Anglican Rite Roman Catholic Church and a member of The Clergy Letter Project recently released an encyclical dealing with the Covid-19 vaccine. He offers a nuanced view of vaccination making it clear that he is in favor of vaccines while being hesitant about accepting vaccine mandates uncritically. Perhaps most importantly, Archfather Rutherford offers a clear and forceful voice for civility and understanding – even when, perhaps especially when, discussing controversial topics.
5. Answers in Genesis, Climate Change and Vaccination
Dr. Paul Braterman, a member of The Clergy Letter Project’s list of scientific consultants, recently had a small piece published in Panda’s Thumb discussing Answers in Genesis’s apparent turn against vaccines. You’ll remember Answers in Genesis as the organization that runs the Creation Museum theme park and Ark Encounter. As Paul notes, Ken Ham, the head of Answers in Genesis, had previously been in favor of vaccines but now, in the face of Covid-19, seems to be calling vaccines false science. Frightening stuff given that Ham’s audience is likely to take him seriously and refrain from making use of life-saving vaccinations.
6. Grace Wolf-Chase Discusses Science-Engaged Worship
ECLAS, Equipping Christian Leadership in an Age of Science, has just concluded a seven part series entitled “Science-Engaged Worship.” The final installment of this informative series was written by our very own Grace Wolf-Chase and is entitled “Praying for Wisdom As ‘Created Co-creators’.”
In her short essay, Grace asks the provocative question: “How often do we pray for the wisdom and know-how to fulfill our duties as God’s stewards of the Earth, rather than pray for God to affect changes we’d like to see in the world?” Take a look at her piece. You won’t be disappointed!
7. Evolution Now Accepted by a Majority of Americans
Our good friends at the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) recently summarized a study showing that evolution is now accepted by a majority of Americans. They note, in their opening paragraph, “The level of public acceptance of evolution in the United States is now solidly above the halfway mark, according to a new study based on a series of national public opinion surveys conducted over the last 35 years. NCSE staff collaborated on the study.”
This is good news indeed and I’m confident that this slow but steady shift in public opinion is due, in part, to your efforts.
8. The Delta Variant and Evolution
Our good friends at the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) recently published an informative article entitled “Where did the Delta variant come from and what will happen next.”
As the lead in to the piece notes, “an understanding of evolution” will help explain what’s happening.
This article is the latest in their series “explaining the science involved in the coronavirus pandemic.” The series has plenty of helpful and accessible information.
9. Science, Nonscience and Nonsense
I’m honored to say that I was invited to write the opening essay for the September issue of Covalence Magazine published by the Lutheran Alliance for Faith, Science and Technology. In this back-to-school issue, my essay focused on the importance of understanding science and the scientific method – and teaching both effectively. The piece is entitled “Science, nonscience and nonsense: Teaching how to differentiate among the three.” You can read it here. I hope you enjoy what I had to say. I would love to hear your thoughts.
10. Greg Epstein Elected President of Harvard Chaplains
Greg Epstein, a member of The Clergy Letter Project and Harvard University’s Humanist chaplain since 2005, was recently elected him president of their organization of chaplains. The New York Times had a very nice feature story on Greg that you’ll not want to miss.
Please join me in congratulating Greg on his election.
11. Questing as a Way of Life: Faith and Science Together
The Reverend Fred Reklau, a retired ELCA pastor and a member of The Clergy Letter Project, sent me the following note recently:
Grace Wolf-Chase suggested (quite a while ago) that I share this piece, written way back in 2014, with you. She was the scientist I asked to respond to it, as you'll see, attached; Phil Hefner, emeritus prof at Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago was the theologian, also attached.
My point is clear, I hope. Only inerrantists have a real problem with acknowledging reality-based science. And there's a faithful way to find collaboration, not conflict, between Christianity and evolution, etc , etc.
See what you think. You're free to share it, if it's worth sharing.
I told Fred that I was very much taken with what he wrote and with the responses offered by both Grace and Phil. I’m delighted to be able to share Fred’s original essay along with their responses with you. You can read it all here.
12. “Why I Bother About Creationism”
Back in February, Dr. Paul Braterman, a member of The Clergy Letter Project’s list of scientific consultants, published a piece entitled “Why creationism bears all the hallmarks of a conspiracy theory.”
Paul just republished the piece in Primate’s Progress with the following introduction:
A friend asked me why I bother about creationism. This article spells out my reasons. It has had some 150,000 reads since first published in The Conversation in February, and has been featured in Snopes and Yahoo! News, and attacked by Ken Ham and Bodie Hodge of Answers in Genesis, Jake Hebert Ph.D [sic] at the Institute for Creation Research, and others.
I suspect that you’ll find the piece well worth your time.
13. Br. Guy Consolmagno: “Your God is Too Small”
Our good friends at the Center for Advanced Study in Religion and Science (CASIRAS) have an exciting webinar coming up that you’ll not want to miss! Here’s how they’ve announced the event: Guy J. Consolmagno SJ will present “Your God Is Too Small,” Friday, Oct. 1, at 5 p.m., Central Daylight Time. This free Zoom webinar is hosted by the Center for Advanced Study in Religion and Science (CASIRAS) and LSTC. Register to receive the link and a reminder on Oct. 1.
The contrast between “the World” and “the Cosmos” is becoming blurred, even as we are learning just how big the Cosmos is. We need to understand that all those other planets are real places, part of the same universe created by God and redeemed by the Incarnation. And God is Creator not only of other places but other times, before and beyond the time when we exist here on Earth. In the face of this immensity in time and space, from the Big Bang to the Heat Death of the Universe, what does it means to be a creature, and to be redeemed by the risen Christ? And in that light, can we appreciate all the more the words of the Psalmist: When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor.
“It is rare to find someone so accomplished in science, theology, and philosophy, who can also communicate complex topics clearly to a general audience. Br. Guy is one of the best story-tellers I’ve ever known,” said Grace Wolf-Chase, senior scientist and senior education and communication specialist at the Planetary Science Institute.
About Guy J. Consolmagno
Br. Guy J. Consolmagno, director of the Vatican Observatory, is known for his ability to communicate complex topics clearly to a general audience. He received the 2014 Carl Sagan Medal for outstanding communication by an active planetary scientist to the general public from the American Astronomical Society Division for Planetary Sciences. He is the author or co-author of four books exploring faith and science issues, including, Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial? (with Paul Mueller), God’s Mechanics, Brother Astronomer, and The Way to the Dwelling of Light.
14. God’s Shrinking Space
When the Reverend Rex Hunt told me about a recent essay by Bernard Brandon Scott he introduced the piece in the following manner:
"When religion tries to determine scientific truth, religion loses." So wrote progressive biblical scholar Bernard Brandon Scott, Darbeth Distinguished Professor Emeritus of New Testament at the Phillips Theological Seminary, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and a charter member of the famous (or infamous) Jesus Seminar. His comments come in the short, but in my opinion, well-written blog on religion and science, called 'God's Shrinking Space.’
"And," he claims, "the space for god's activity has been shrinking since Copernicus argued that the earth revolves around the sun and what is under god's control has only continued to shrink."
His blog revisits this pivotal moment and the debate around church and heliocentrism, along with companion comments on Galileo Galilei, the biblical text (and interpretation) contained in Joshua 10 – a story of ethnic cleansing, and by comparison the Protestant debate and reaction, all to help his readers understand how we got to where we are today.
While he notes the 1990 acknowledgement by Pope John Paul II that the church had erred in condemning Galileo, he also claims the radical changes required of religion to be a positive influence "is a very heavy lift now, so heavy that it faces dwindling into insignificance. If Christianity had evolved with science and not in resistance to science, we would be in a very different situation. But not to change is death; evolving is life."
You can read “God’s Shrinking Space” here.
15. A Magnificent Universe: A Contemplation of Human Purpose
Dr. Jennifer Wiseman, a member of The Clergy Letter Project’s list of scientific consultants, will be leading a webinar entitled “A Magnificent Universe: A Contemplation of Human Purpose” hosted by our good friends at IRAS (The Institute on Religion in an Age of Science).
Here’s what IRAS has to say about this important event:
A Magnificent Universe: A Contemplation of Human Purpose
September 29, 2021, 4:00 PM Central Time (5:00 PM Eastern Time) via Zoom
Hosted by The Institute on Religion in an Age of Science
In this month’s Webinar, IRAS will host Dr. Jennifer J. Wiseman, Director of the Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion (DoSER) program at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and an astrophysicist at NASA. The respondent will be Dr. Steven Finette (Ph.D. in biophysics, Syracuse University), physicist at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C.
Modern telescopes are also “time machines,” sampling ancient light from distant stars and galaxies, revealing a universe that over vast time has transformed everything in existence. Through images of beautiful nebulae, active planets, and even infant galaxies, this talk will show how current and future astronomical discoveries inspire contemplation of human purpose and connection to a magnificent cosmos.
Dr. Jennifer Wiseman is an astrophysicist, author, and speaker. She studies the process of star and planet formation in our galaxy using radio, optical, and infrared telescopes. She is also interested in national science policy and public science engagement and directs the program of Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion (DoSER) for the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Wiseman studied physics at MIT, co-discovering the comet Wiseman-Skiff in 1987, and continued in astronomy with her doctoral research at Harvard. She has worked with several international observatories and is currently a senior astrophysicist at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Dr. Wiseman is a Fellow of the American Scientific Affiliation, a network of Christians in Science. She frequently gives public talks on the excitement of scientific discovery and appears in many venues including The New York Times, The Washington Post, NOVA, and National Public Radio.
The IRAS Webinar is FREE, but registration is required:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_3wVX-XtqR0CU8RbHCbC0QA
16. Repairing the World with Science Tikkun
Dr. Peter Hotez is the dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine and Professor of Pediatrics, Molecular Virology, and Microbiology at the Baylor College of Medicine. He is also the co-director of the Texas Children’s Center for Vaccine Development. He recently gave a talk at Congregtion Emanu El in Houston, TX as part of Sinai and Synapse’s Scientists in Synagogues program.
His talk, entitled “Repairing the World with Science Tikkun,” can be viewed here.
Concluding Thoughts
I trust you found items of interest in the newsletter this month. It was longer than typical but there was plenty of relevant news to include. And, I’m delighted to say, many items were submitted by members. If you have thoughts on what should be included in the future, let me know.
We obviously have not yet turned the corner on the pandemic so I hope you are taking great care with your congregations. And I hope many of you are using your positions of trust to encourage those who might be vaccine hesitant to move into the vaccinated category. As you well know, that will not only help them survive but it will help us all move back to some sense of normalcy in the future.
I hope you, all those you care about, and all those with whom you interact remain safe and healthy.
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. 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