Skeptic: Promoting Science and Critical Thinking

Sam Harris, UCLA, author of The End of Faith and A Letter to a Christian Nation

upcoming lecture…

Symposium on Science, Religion & Politics

with Dr. Richard Sloan, Dr. Owen Gingerich and Sam Harris

Sunday, October 8, 2006, 2pm
Baxter Lecture Hall, Caltech, Pasadena, CA

Over the past decade the relationship of science and religion has been under close scrutiny, with people on both sides developing various positions on how two of the most powerful institutions in the today’s world — one ancient, one modern — can co-exist. And as we have seen in the news coming out of the Middle East, the relationship of religion and politics has also taken center stage, as people of faith and party on both sides square off in the name of God and mammon. In this afternoon symposium we bring to the table four eminent scholars and social commentators, all with new books on these vital topics, to present their views, exchange ideas with one another, and to engage the audience in lively conversation.

Dr. Owen Gingerich is a Harvard astronomer and one of the most respected historians of science of our age, and in his latest book, God’s Universe, he presents compelling arguments for people who already believe in God that their faith is not ungrounded, and that no only should believers not be threatened by science, they should embrace it for revealing the wonders of the creation.

In 1999 Columbia University professor of behavioral medicine Dr. Richard Sloan published a definitive critique of prayer and healing studies in the prestigious British medical journal Lancet, and his new book, Blind Faith, elaborates on these and the studies in this field published since. Sloan notes that many of these distant intercessory prayer studies — in which religious strangers pray for patients to be healed — failed to control for such intervening variables as age, sex, education, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, marital standing, degree of religiosity, and the fact that most religions have sanctions against such insalubrious behaviors as sexual promiscuity, alcohol and drug abuse, and smoking. When such variables are controlled for, the formerly significant results disappear. Not only is this bad science, says Sloan, trying to quantify God is bad religion.

Sam Harris’s book, The End of Faith, generated a firestorm of cultural controversy as he outlined with unfailing logic and clear rhetoric the dangers of mixing religious fundamentalism with weapons of mass destruction. In Letter to a Christian Nation, Harris continues his commentary and ups the amperage of his warning about the dangers of mixing religion and politics.

SEE LIST of all upcoming lectures >

CRUISE RUNS Feb. 27 – Mar. 7, 2007

Galápagos Opportunity!

Here is a wonderful opportunity to go to the Galápagos islands with Richard Milner, a Darwin scholar, historian of science, editor for Natural History magazine (he was Stephen Jay Gould’s editor), and famous for his singing Darwin show. The best way to see the Galápagos islands is with someone who really knows Darwin’s life, history, and science, and that is why we recommend that you consider joining Richard Milner on this one. Now is the time to book for March. You won’t be disappointed.

Map of route the Galápagos tour will take. For more information go to galapagosdirect.com or call 1-866-461-6262 (toll free in the USA) or 1-781-729-6262 (outside the USA).