Religion/science events in Central PA

Those not too far from central PA may be interested in this information,
about events sponsored by or advertised by our Forum.

Ted

(1) The next meeting of the reading group will be at 7 pm on Thursday, Feb
16, in Kline Hall 106. Please note that this is a change in date and
location from our usual pattern. We will finish reading McGrath's book,
Genes, Memes and the Meaning of Life. We will also choose a book by John
Polkinghorne to start reading for March and April. We will finish that book
in the fall, when Dr. Polkinghorne will be on campus in late October for a
public symposium.

(2) Theater production and panel discussion, "The Great Tennessee Monkey
Trial." On Sunday evening, January 29, there will be a unique event at
the Strand-Capitol Performing Arts Center in
York.
http://www.strandcapitol.org/ticketing/tickets/production.aspx?performanceNumber=1554

I will be part of a free panel discussion that the Constitution Project
will be presenting before the performance (tickets are required for the
performance, but not for the panel). The panel will explore historical,
social, political, and legal parallels between the Scopes trial in 1925 and
the Dover case, and most of the time will be for audience questions and
discussion. The panelists will not, however,
directly debate the legal or scientific issues decided in the Dover case.
You can download a flyer about the panel here:
http://www.constitutionproject.org/pdf/york_flyer.pdf.

The Constitution Project (www.constitutionproject.org) is a bipartisan
nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C., that conducts public education
and research on controversial legal and governance issues. These include
the balance between liberty and security after September 11th, the death
penalty, judicial independence, criminal sentencing, and the constitutional
amendment process. The Constitution Project is partnering with LA Theatre
Works (LATW), in connection with the production of The Great Tennessee
Monkey Trial at venues across the country. LATW's production of the Monkey
Trial is based on original transcripts from the Scopes case.

(3) Lecture series on intelligent design in DC. The Wrestlers class at the
National Presbyterian Church (http://www.natpresch.org) in Washington is
sponsoring a four-part series on intelligent design, as follows:
                        

Feb. 12 - Ted Davis, "Honest Talk about Intelligent Design" (this is
the same talk I gave on our campus in November)
Feb. 19 - Nancy Pearcey, on "Total Truth" (this is similar to the talk
Nancy gave on our campus last spring)
Feb. 26 - Herman Bouma (pro ID) vs. Jack Naughton (con ID) - Alternatives
Mar. 5 - Facilitated discussion on ID

The Wrestlers class meets in the lower level of the Agencies Building, the
stone building on the corner of Van Ness and Nebraska Ave.

(4) The Central Pennsylvania Forum for Religion and Science
(www.messiah.edu/godandscience/) is sponsoring two main spring events. Full
information will soon go on our webpage (I apologize that this has not been
done yet, but it should be taken care of in the next two weeks). In the
meantime, please note the following dates and times. Both events are free
and open to the public.

Dr. Christian Smith, a sociologist from the University of North Carolina
(http://www.unc.edu/~cssmith/),
will speak on Monday, March 6, at 7:30 pm in Hostetter Chapel. His topic
is "American Adolescent Religion: National Patterns of Practice and
Belief." This is based on his book, Soul Searching
(http://www.unc.edu/~cssmith/books2000.html).

Dr. Christine Rosen, an historian who is a fellow for the Project on
Biotechnology and American Democracy
(http://www.eppc.org/scholars/scholarID.51/scholar.asp) at the Ethics and
Public Policy Center in Washington, will speak on Tuesday, April 4, at 7:00
pm in Hostetter Chapel. Her topic is "Eugenics and Religion." This is
based on her book, Preaching Eugnenics
(http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/019515679X/ref=pd_kar_2/103-9715317-3083835?n=283155).

(5) The Forum will sponsor a public symposium on "Creation, Resurrection,
and Eschatology" this fall. More details will be announced in a few
months on the Forum webpage. For the time being, however, you may want to
mark your calendar for Friday evening, October 27, and all day Saturday,
October 28. The symposium will feature Dr. John Polkinghorne
(www.polkinghorne.org), an English physicist and Anglican priest whose books
on religion and science have sold more copies than anyone else in the world;
and Dr. Luke Timothy Johnson
(http://candler.emory.edu/ACADEMIC/FACULTY/faculty_johnson.html), a Roman
Catholic biblical scholar who is widely known as a critic of the Jesus
seminar. Both men will speak on each of the three topics of the symposium.
There will be a modest charge to attend.

(6) The Bonchek Institute for Science and Public Policy and the Program for
Science, Technology, and Society at Franklin & Marshall College is
sponsoring three public lectures. For more information, contact Roger D.K.
Thomas, John Williamson Nevin Professor of Geology, (717) 291-4135
Roger.Thomas@fandm.edu.

February 9, 8:00 p.m. Dr. Sandra Steingraber will speak on
"Contaminated Without Consent: How Chemical Pollutants in Air, Food and
Water Violate Human Righs." Dr. Steingraber is the author of two
books that attracted a lot of attention, Living Downstream: An Ecologist
Looks at Cancer and the Environment and Having Faith: An Ecologist's
Journey to Motherhood. The topic of her talk is that of her 2003 Rachel
Carson Lecture.

February 14, 12:00 noon-1:15 p.m. (buffet luncheon provided free of
charge). Professor Alan Houston (Department of Political Science,
University of California, San Diego) will speak on "Population Politics:
Benjamin Franklin and the Peopling of North America." This is our Fourth
Annual Darwin Day Lecture. Dr. Houston is an historian of political
thought, whose research focuses on the political-economy of population. As
an undergraduate, he majored in mathematics and political philosophy at
Oberlin College. Dr. Houston is the author of two books on the emergence of
modern democracy in Britain and America. Currently, he is working on two
more books, entitled Benjamin Franklin and the Politics of Improvement and
Lives, Lawes, and Liberties: The Levellers and Modern Democracy.

March 30, 8:00 p.m. Professor Iris Fry will speak on "Origin of Life
Research and Intelligent Design: A Critique." Dr. Fry is a historian and
philosopher of science, on the faculty of Israel's Technion University.
She is the author of The Emergence of Life on Earth: A Historical and
Scientific Overview (2000, Rutgers University Press).
Received on Mon Jan 23 09:32:05 2006