Colloquium for Science and Religion at Carthage College (2005 Report)
In January of 2005, I was traveling in Greece with students, and the science and religion dialogue was not heavily on my mind. While visiting on Crete, however, I met Anastasia Tselekidou, who was doing graduate work on the relationship between medical technology and theology in Europe. I sent a note to Drew suggesting that he contact her about working with Metanexus to set up an LSI, which I understand would be the first one in Greece. I mention this encounter because I feel like I have been making one contact after another since the Colloquium for Science and Religion at Carthage began. The steering committee has come together very quickly, and as a result we have a great variety of exciting Science and Religion activities underway.
On Tuesday, April 12, the Governor of Wisconsin, Jim Doyle, was the keynote speaker for the opening luncheon of our two-day bioethics conference, "Stem Cell Research: Wrestling with the Future." In addition to the governor’s address, the conference featured two panel discussions on "religious and professional perspectives on cloning for biomedical research," two evening lectures with responses, and a visit by several of the speakers to a local high school. This last event introduced the topic of bioethics to a younger audience for whom these issues will have great personal and social relevance for many years to come. In total, just under 1000 people attended the six events. In addition, several speakers participated in a radio interview show on the first day of the conference, fifty people attended a follow-up meeting at one of the LSI member institutions on April 17, we received excellent coverage in the local and regional news paper, and the follow-up e-discussion board had a steady volume of traffic. One of the best aspects of the conference was that with one exception due to out-of-town travel, every member of the steering committee participated in some way.
On February 28, we co-sponsored a discussion of the PBS program "A Question of God" that compared the lives and ideas of Sigmund Freud and C.S. Lewis. Much of the discussion involved basic Science and Religion dialogue questions. This event was initiated and led by students who had seen the program and wanted a chance to discuss it further. Of the fifty people who attended, most were Carthage students and faculty, but we were also pleased to see several community people there as well. Many of the students had discussed Freud’s understanding of Science and Religion in class, and so the opportunity to contrast Freud’s ideas with those of C.S. Lewis allowed for a very productive discussion.
On March 30th, the Colloquium sponsored an all-day program on the aftermath of the Tsunami disaster from scientific, religious, and social policy perspectives. "Aftershocks: Restoring the Foundations of a Fragile World" was a great success due in large part to the work of steering committee member, Rev. Harvard Stephens. Pastor Stephens led programs during January which addressed initial responses to the Tsunami, but wanted to return to the topic, and look again at the details of what happened and how relief efforts are provided in response to sudden tragedies such as the Tsunami and to ongoing tragedies such as famine and war. Since we are located very close to the national headquarters for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, we brought in several people from the ELCA staff as speakers. Professor Matt Zorn of the Carthage Geography department provided technical expertise on Tsunamis and early warning systems. Once again, we did a radio interview show to raise public awareness of the program. We also offered a relief dinner to give participants a sense of what it is like to be the victim of a disaster, and to be dependent on the generosity of other people for your basic sustenance.
In the fall term, for the first time, LSI steering committee member Jean Quashnock of the Carthage Physics department and I offered a new Science and Religion course. "Ancient and Modern Cosmologies: God and the Universe," was built on the success of the Creation and Apocalypse course that we have been running for almost ten years now, and focused specifically on the question of cosmic origins.
This course was run successfully and met with great enthusiasm from students and colleagues.
The visit to campus by Vatican cosmologist, Guy Consolmagno, and astronomer Grace Wolf-Chase from the University of Chicago and the Adler Planetarium were highlights of the course, and their talks attracted large audiences from the community as well. In addition, we took the students from the class to the Adler Planetarium for a tour and discussion with one of the resident astronomer. In all, the class was a opportunity for a great deal for asking questions about cosmology from very interesting interdisciplinary perspectives.
In April, we will host an event sponsored jointly with the Education Department in which we will consider the issues associated with "teaching evolution." This issue has received quite a bit of attention in Wisconsin over the last six-months, and we are convinced that it will be of great interest both to our education students and to teachers and parents in the community.
