Future Convergence or Forever Divergent: Science & Spirit Magazine Takes on the Science-Religion Debate

Whether or not science and religion can comfortably co-exist has been debated since the earliest scientific discoveries. In recent years, there has been a growing dialogue between the two disciplines, as more scientists find ways to draw value and gain insight from their spiritual beliefs, and many theologians work to successfully reconcile the findings of science with Scripture. Still, there are those who believe the two disciplines are inherently at odds, ill-suited to accommodate one another and destined to provoke conflict.

Charles Townes, Nobel laureate, 2005 Templeton Prize winner, and inventor of the maser and laser, has been a leading advocate for the convergence of science and religion since 1966, when he wrote a seminal article on the subject for IBM's THINK magazine. In Science & Spirit magazine's January-February 2006 issue, he updates his experiences with physics and faith, and describes the "revelation" that was the origin of the maser. For Townes, there is no question that science and religion will eventually come together because they are "merely two ways of looking at life and the universe; it follows that, in the long run, they will see the same thing." Award-winning science writer George Johnson has a different perspective. He shares his personal, analytical journey in considering the relationship between the two disciplines, including his time spent as a Templeton-Cambridge journalism fellow last summer. "Science is about what you can prove. Religion is about what you believe," Johnson writes. "It follows that there can be many different religions but only one science. So what is there to reconcile?"

The January-February issue of Science & Spirit also features:

--  A feature on the Dalai Lama's participation in the science and
    religion dialogue
--  An interview with renowned conservationist George Archibald, exploring
    his mission to ensure the survival of near-extinct cranes, his faith in
    God, and his views on conservation and humanity
--  A report on a new trend in organ donation that has medical ethicists
    concerned: living donors offering their organs to strangers they meet on
    the Internet.
    

Science & Spirit is published six times a year by Heldref Publications. It is sold on newsstands and by subscription, and can be viewed online at www.science-spirit.org.

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