Talking Science and Religion in Spanish and Portuguese
With over 600 million people, Latin America is widely known among scholars of religion as one of the world's most religiously dynamic regions. Despite having many universities and scientific research centers, the nations of Central and South America have been largely sidelined in the global dialogue between science and religion. That is changing rapidly.
From October 19-21, over 150 scholars from throughout the region, as well as the US and the UK, gathered in Mexico City for the sixth Latin American Conference on Science and Religion—the largest meeting of its kind to date. It was organized by the Ian Ramsey Centre at Oxford University and Universidad Panamericana in Mexico City, in association with the British Council, and funded in part by a $550,000 grant from the John Templeton Foundation. The event brought together researchers from both the sciences and the humanities, including some of Central and South America's leading academics, like Mexico's Antonio Lazcano and Rafael Vicuña of Chile.
The goals? To understand the current state of science and religion studies in Latin America, to increase collaboration across disciplines and national borders, and to help end the region's relative isolation from the worldwide science and religion dialogue.
"We decided to put together the conference because we recognized an interest in the topic based on past conferences, and because we knew that there were several smaller groups in the region working on science and religion questions, but without much contact with each other," says Ignacio Silva, an Oxford University theologian and co-director of the Science and Religion in Latin America project. "Essentially, we came to the conclusion that the time was ripe for Latin American scholars to address these questions of science and religion as a community, and to offer and share their perspectives with the international community."
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Antonio Lazcano |
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Latin American scholars who participated in the conference tell TR that the science and religion encounter is a priority neither for the region's academic communities, nor for its religious communities, which are focused on ethics, social justice, and pastoral care. For his part, Silva calls the Latin American science and religion dialogue "quite misinformed."
"The main 'conflict' thesis, at the popular level, comes from a naive materialism, which is also present at the scholarly level, mainly in state universities," he says. "The main issue we are trying to address with this project is to set this dialogue as an academic topic to be dealt with within academia, and take it to the greater public."
The "naive materialism" of which Silva speaks is the belief that science and religion have nothing to say to each other—a challenge familiar to academics in the US and Europe.
The region's tumultuous political history also stands as a barrier to the dialogue. Michael J. Murray, a philosopher of religion who oversees the Templeton Foundation's programs, explains that the Roman Catholic Church's involvement in Latin American politics over the years has left many within the academic community resistant to the idea of including religion in scholarly discussion.
"They can't disentangle religion from politics, so they're highly suspicious that this is all a political ploy," Murray says. "Just trying to get people to address the issues in science and religion at face value can be a challenge."
On the other hand, Latin America is richly endowed with a network of Catholic universities, such as the Universidad Panamericana, which hosted the conference. These provide religiously open academic settings where the dialogue can flourish. Plus, says Silva, the region's strong Catholic intellectual heritage makes it easier to discuss evolution and other topics in the natural sciences within a religious context—as Lazcano's conference paper on the Church and evolution confirmed. Aside from overcoming conceptual challenges, proponents of the Latin American dialogue face a more practical difficulty: a lack of basic educational resources. Not only do the region's universities lack the funds to expand far beyond core curricular needs of their students, but there are startlingly few up-to-date scholarly books and papers in the science and religion field available in Spanish and Portuguese translation. That's where Templeton can help.
"One thing is clear: the interest level is high, but the capacity is low," says Murray. "We have to find ways to provide these scholars with the things they need to do the research they want to do. Plus, we're keen to find ways to plug younger scholars into more established communities elsewhere in the world who are doing research on these types of questions. One of the most urgent questions for us at the Foundation is how we can best identify and support these very talented young scholars."
Organizers have begun to receive feedback from participants, who are eager to move forward with unifying the science and religion community across the region. The 2012 conference will be in Brazil, with the third conference in the Templeton-funded series in the works for Oxford in 2013.
Test of FAITH Completes U.S. Tour
Cambridge University biologist Ruth Bancewicz recently completed a three-week fall tour of American churches and universities promoting Test of FAITH a multimedia educational project providing resources for Christians interested in science and the big questions. Produced by The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion at St. Edmund's College, Cambridge, and funded by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation, Test of FAITH brings together some of the world's top scientists and theologians—including Francis Collins, John Polkinghorne, and Jennifer Wiseman—to share their thoughts about how their faith affects their work in the sciences.
The project, which is aimed at non-specialists, makes available a 90-minute documentary on DVD, a book, and a course enabling small church and school groups to discuss cosmology, evolution, free will, and other issues raised by the film and its companion volume. The DVD, course, and related materials can be ordered from the Test of FAITH website. Additional resources are available for free on the site.
"Test of FAITH demonstrates that being a Christian and a scientist need not result in endless personal conflict," Bancewicz writes on her science and religion blog. "Of course there are difficult issues at times, but worshipping God through science, living a Christian life in the lab, and playing a part in developing new technologies are all satisfying ways of serving God."
Ayala Gives $10 Million to University
Molecular biologist Francisco J. Ayala, winner of the 2010 Templeton Prize, has pledged $10 million to the University of California, Irvine. Ayala, 77, earmarked the funds for the university's School of Biological Sciences, where he has taught since 1989.
"This university has been very good to me," Ayala told the Los Angeles Times. "I have been given the opportunity to do research and my major scientific accomplishments have been done at this university. I have enjoyed my students and colleagues—this is a way of expressing my gratitude."
Last year, Ayala, a former Dominican priest who has worked to advance the science and religion dialogue, donated the $1.5 million from his Templeton Prize to the school to be used to recruit and support graduate students in the biological sciences. The new donation comes from earnings from Ayala's successful California vineyard. The Times reports that Ayala's generosity "overwhelmed" UCI administrators, who have been reeling from huge budget cuts imposed by the state.
