Seeking Balance Between Science & Spirit
RISE Course No. 1971, 10:45 AM – 12:15, MEM 123
5 Mondays, Starting October 19, 2015
PowerPoint presentations & discussions seeking to reconcile:
(1) Climate-science and religion In the opinion, “On Earth Day Time is Running Out,” Secretary of State John Kerry stated, “Increasing greenhouse gas emissions are raising sea levels and causing weather extremes.”
In the contrary opinion, House Committee Chairman Lamar Smith called climate science “religion”
How can we redefine religion and faith to achieve reconciliation?
Market capitalism drives our global economy. Pope Francis’ June encyclical “On Care for our Common Home” questions the ethics of this system, which is leading to climate change and an increasing gap between the rich and the poor.
(3) Medical science & near-death spirituality
Are near-death experiences Proof of Heaven? This is the title of neurosurgeon Eban Alexander’s 2012 book.
Neurologist Oliver Sachs, MD, author of Hallucinations, has a naturalistic, scientific explanation of Dr. Alexander’s near death experience.
Did human consciousness emerge from the cosmos, or
did the cosmos emerge from divine creativity?
(5) Higgs Boson & God Particle
According to the Standard Model of the Elementary Particles, the
recently observed Higgs Boson is needed to account for mass.
Why was the Higgs Boson called the God Particle?
Course Facilitator Paul H. Carr, BS, MIT; Ph.D, Brandeis U, IEEE Life Fellow, led a branch of the AF Research Laboratory and taught at RISE, 2010, 2014. The Templeton Foundation awarded him a grant for the philosophy course he taught a U Mass Lowell. This inspired his book Beauty in Science & Spirit. His web page is www.MirrorOfNature.org