Science Cafe
Categories: School News
Science and religion
First-ever cafe at St Thomas More's School, Bedford
Father Tony from Holy Cross Church became the first speaker in our series of science cafes. He was invited by the Café Sci team to give his views on the relationship between science and religion in modern times.
Father Tony’s main theme was that science and religion are in many ways very similar; both seek truth and try to make sense of our world. He also emphasised the importance of both science and religion in modern society – without either there would be dire consequences – and referred to an analogy made by the geneticist Steve Jones – “Religion and science are like a shark and a tiger – in their own environments they are the boss, but put them together and chaos ensues”. This was an interesting thought, but Father Tony commented that he didn’t believe this was the case – science and religion can peacefully coexist in today’s world.
After a short break (with lovely cakes generously baked by Mr Fenn and Aaron) the students returned to their seats for a question and answer session with Father Tony – it’s fair to say they weren’t a shy bunch! Many challenging questions were asked, including “Is there a difference between religion and faith?” and “How do you define something as being ethical?” The subject of ethics was quite a popular one, and Father Tony expressed his concern at the judgement of some scientists, as research into stem cells (for example) comes increasingly under the spotlight.
Read full story at http://www.juniorcafesci.org.uk/