51cg

Can religion hold back scientific advance?Does religion help keep science ethical and reasonable?Can practising scientists follow a religion and vice versa?What role can the media play in science and religion debates?

Join our panel to discuss these ideas and more at what is sure to be a lively and interesting event!

All welcome, admission free, booking required . Refreshments will be available to purchase.

Panel members include:

• from the Science and Religion: Exploring the Spectrum Research Group
• a social scientist from the 51cg
• Rev Dr Alistair Donald, University Chaplain, Heriot-Watt University. Alistair worked as an environmental scientist before becoming a minister.
• a behavioural biologist from the 51cg

This panel discussion is part of a partnership between the BSA and the Science and Religion: Exploring the Spectrum (SRES) project based at Newman University in Birmingham.

The project seeks to build an understanding of the social and cultural contexts of public perceptions of the relationship between ‘science’ and ‘religion’ across all faiths and none. Surprisingly, although the relationship between ‘science’ and ‘religion’ is often talked about in the media, by public intellectuals, and in public space, very little research has been done that explores what people actually think about their own or others’ views on the relationship between science and religion, or by extension rationality, reason, and faith.