Review of "Negotiating Science and Religion"

Dan Barnett reviewed by book, Negotiating Science and Religion in America. Here's an excerpt (and you can go here for the full review.)

"In 1966 physicist Ian Barbour, who graduated from Yale Divinity School, proposed four ways science and religion meet each other. Yes, there has been conflict between the two, but also they’ve been seen as independent knowledge systems. At times they have been in dialogue with each other. And there is also the possibility of 'integration.'

Cootsona writes that such a model no longer fits what is happening among emerging adults. Religion has morphed into 'spirituality' (many who report no religious affiliation — the 'nones' — consider themselves spiritual) and emerging adults are creating 'interactive networks' through technology that draw beliefs from many traditions in an increasingly pluralist context. Religion is not one thing and neither is science. There is 'negotiation' on the personal level.

This collaboration shows itself in many of the vexing issues young adults must deal with as they become tomorrow’s leaders. Genetic manipulation ushers in the 'specter of eugenics'; there is climate change, sexuality, artificial intelligence, transhumanism, the nature of race.

In these challenges Cootsona, in his ground-breaking and optimistic work, discerns a 'unique American vitality' found in the interplay of the sciences and religions."