Speaking of Faith

When Krista Tippett began her public radio show Speaking of Faith in 1999, there were public radio producers who balked at the questions about religion and meaning that she tackled with her guests. They said these ideas were too hard for the public to deal with, she recalls. But they were wrong. "We would put it on the air and people would go wild. The bigger the idea, the more engaged listeners would be," Tippett says today.

Thanks in part to the ongoing grant support of the John Templeton Foundation for her popular syndicated program, Tippett has been able to introduce more of those ideas into public conversation. The Peabody Award-winning Speaking of Faith is now heard on 230 public radio stations nationwide, and reaches a global audience via podcast. Her best-selling new book, Einstein's God: Conversations About Science and the Human Spirit presents ten Speaking of Faith programs exploring the relationship between science and religion.

In one interview, surgeon Mehmet Oz, known to many Americans for his regular guest appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show, talks about learning that doctors must treat the whole person, not just the ailing body. During his medical residency, Oz realized that "there were certain elements of the healing process I could not capture. And even if I was right in the science, I could be wrong in the spirit."

Tippett says that she has spoken to a number of non-religious scientists about questions of spiritual meaning, and their answers have surprised her. "It is less and less important in these conversations whether scientists themselves are personally religious or not," she says. In the introduction to Einstein's God, Tippett declares that "the science-religion 'debate' is unwinnable, and it has led us astray."

Far from making religion null and void, says Tippett, scientific discovery is driving theological inquiry to new places. Says the radio host, "Neuroscience is throwing up some of the most interesting theological questions of the 21st century."

She recalls an interview with Sherwin Nuland, the renowned surgeon and bioethicist who has written that the "human spirit is the result of the adaptive biological mechanisms that protect our species, sustain us, and serve to perpetuate the existence of humanity." In an earlier era, says Tippett, Nuland would have been considered a cut-and-dried atheist—even though he speaks about concepts like love, beauty, and order, which also concern theologians. But those boundaries are now blurring. In the interview, Nuland discloses that despite his atheism, he too is a seeker, and that "wonder is something I share with people of deep faith."

Sherwin Nuland

Michael McCullough

Paul Davies

Tippett is also fascinated by how science is studying religious virtues. Michael McCullough, the director of the Laboratory for Social and Clinical Psychology at the University of Miami in Florida, came on Speaking of Faith to talk about revenge and forgiveness. He explained how both are in fact natural impulses, and how there is even an evolutionary benefit to forgiveness (because it makes cooperation—and thus survival—more likely). In Tippett's view, McCullough's research helps us understand which impulses can't be eliminated from our natures, but also how to create the conditions that will call forth empathy instead of revenge. In this way, says Tippett, science is "challenging religious communities to take their own virtues more seriously."

Because she finds strident arguments from both sides of the science and religion debates so unsatisfying, Tippett works hard to "go behind the headlines" on these issues. The veteran journalist believes she has long been walking a parallel path with the Templeton Foundation. Indeed, Tippett has interviewed several Templeton Prize winners, including theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson, astrobiologist Paul Davies, and particle physicist John Polkinghorne, who is also a theologian and priest. Those interviews are also part of Einstein's God.

"Sir John Templeton wanted to support research that seeks answers to Big Questions," says Andrew Rick-Miller, senior program officer at the Templeton Foundation. "But another important part of our mission is to disseminate the findings of what we might call 'Big Questions research,' and to educate the broader public on the issues that surround such questions." Rick-Miller believes that Speaking of Faith does this by "helping the program's listeners to learn about recent discoveries," and enabling them to better understand the nature and contours of the ongoing science-religion dialogue.

New Templeton-Cambridge Journalism Fellows

Ten journalists from the United States, the United Kingdom, and China have been selected for the sixth annual Templeton–Cambridge Journalism Fellowships in Science & Religion. Inaugurated in 2004, the fellowships include a program of research and scholarship at Cambridge University in England.

The 2010 fellows are:

Qanta Ahmed, contributor, Huffington Post, and broadcast commentator
John Farrell, freelance journalist
Zeeya Merali, freelance journalist and documentary producer
Chris Mooney, science journalist and reporter
Lisa Mullins, chief anchor and senior producer, BBC’s The World
Jane Qiu, correspondent, Nature
Francis X. Rocca, Vatican correspondent, Religion News Service
Carlin Romano, critic-at-large, Chronicle of Higher Education
Ron Rosenbaum, cultural columnist, Slate
Peter Scoblic, executive editor, The New Republic

In June, the fellows will gather in Cambridge to participate in an intensive two-month program, starting with seminars with some of the world’s foremost physicists, cosmologists, philosophers, biologists, and theologians. Each fellow will also conduct an independent research project related to the intersection of science and religion.

The Society for Research on Adolescence Honors Richard M. Lerner

Richard M. Lerner

Richard M. Lerner, a developmental psychologist at Tufts University and a member of the Templeton Foundation’s board of advisors, has been named the 2010 recipient of the John P. Hill Memorial Award from the Society for Research on Adolescence. The award recognizes an individual whose overall program of work has had a significant impact on the understanding of development and behavior during the second decade of the lifespan.

Lerner is the Bergstrom Chair in Applied Developmental Science and the Director of the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development at Tufts. His more than 500 scholarly publications include 70 authored or edited books. He was the founding editor of the Journal of Research on Adolescence and of Applied Developmental Science, which he continues to edit. Lerner is known for his research about the relations between adolescents and their peers, families, schools, and communities.