Are science and religion forever locked in conflict or can they coexist? On issues from evolution and the big bang to new advances in technology and medicine, religion and science are often at odds. The panelists for this talk tackle some of the most controversial breakthroughs in science, including gene editing. What happens as our ethical and religious institutions struggle to keep up with science’s latest developments? We address the weighty questions asking if science refutes religion or if they are two separate issues. Unfortunately, we had technical issues with audio for this talk, so enjoy engaging clips from the mics that were functioning - watch more below:
Barbara Bradley Hagerty is a former award-winning religion correspondent for National Public Radio and is a former reporter for the Christian Science Monitor. She is author of the book, Fingerprints of God: The Search for the Science of Spirituality. She is currently a contributor to The Atlantic and NPR.
Ian Hutchinson is a professor of nuclear science and engineering at MIT and has spoken widely about the intersection of science, faith, and culture. Hutchinson focuses on the theoretical and cultural issues beneath the historic relationship between science and Christianity. His most recent popular material focuses on the notion of scientism, the expansion of the methodology of science beyond its natural limits. Hutchinson is the author of *Principles of Plasma Physics* and an International Advisor to *Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion*, one of the leading plasma physics journals in the world.
Rabbi Geoffrey Mitelman is the Founding Director of Sinai and Synapses, an organization that bridges the scientific and religious worlds, and is being incubated at Clal – The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership. His writings about the intersection of religion and science have appeared on the homepages of several sites, including The Huffington Post, Nautilus, and Science and Religion Today.
Considered one of the founders of the field of neuroethics, Paul Root Wolpe, Ph.D. is a Professor of Bioethics at Emory University and serves as the first Senior Bioethicist for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), where he is responsible for formulating policy on bioethical issues and safeguarding research subjects. A futurist interested in social dynamics, Dr. Wolpe’s work focuses on the social, religious, ethical, and ideological impact of technology on the human condition.
Director and Co-founder of pgEd (Personal Genetics Education Project) and Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, Ting Wu leads pgEd’s mission to incrase awareness and conversation about the benefits and ethical, legal, and social implications of personal genetics. Dr. Wu’s research as Professor of Genetics studies the manner in which chromosome structure and behavior govern inheritance and genome activity.