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Monday April 1 19:30
Senate Room, Old College, Edinburgh University
Everyone keeps telling us to think and act environmentally .... to look after the planet for our children, to rescue the rain forest, to save endangered species, to conserve our resources, to protect us all from climate change, and so on. But so little seems to happen. Why not? This open debate explores some of the reasons.
If we probe beneath the suface of government sustainable development strategies, local Agenda 21 plans, Brussels Directives, and even green NGO activities, almost everyone agrees that the big problem is implemetation. Or rather the lack of it. We know plenty of things we can do already - and at every level of society. So why do we find it so hard to do anything about the environment that will make much difference? In this debate we explore whether it is our politics that's at fault, the way our society runs, our failure to act as communities, or is it deeper in our psychology or even our spirits? Join Michael Hare-Duke and his team of expert sleuths to find out what lies at the bottom of this mystery ... and bring your own views.
The event is being jointly organised by the Society, Religion and Technology Project of the Church of Scotland - set up in 1970 to stimulate debate into ethical questions in modern technology - and the Scottish Churches Vision 21 Inititative - which seeks to encourage local communities throughout Scottish society to develop sustainable ways of living.
Bishop Michael Hare-Duke (chairman) - former Bishop of St.Andrews
Robin Grove-White - Director of the Centre for Environmental Change, University of Lancaster
Canon Kenyon Wright - Director of Vision 21 and instigator of the Scottish Environmental Forum
Dr David Uzzell - Director of the Enviromental Psychology Programme, University of Surrey.
Michael Poole
Visiting Research Fellow in Science Education, Kings College London
Wednesday April 10 19:30
Senate Room, Old College, Edinburgh University
Can science really tell us all we need to know? .... or, like the king in the Grimms fairly tale Rumpelstiltskin, have we given it a task it could never fulfill? One of the themes of this year's Science Festival is "What science can't tell us". This lecture asks whether science can spin the raw materials of life and into the gold of the meaning of our existence, and where religious belief comes into it. We have been taught to treat science as the ultimate test of all rational belief. But is that really true? Over BSE, Government Ministers urge us to look not at emotions but at the "scientific facts". So why are so many dubious? Does science on its own miss something vital?
Michael Poole asks if science has lived up to its expectations, and whether these were ever realistic. He looks at the limitations of science and the implications of its failures. He examines the current criticism that "scientific facts" are in the end nothing more than a product of the scientists' social conditioning. And he squares up to the old question of whether science need be at loggerheads with Christian belief, and whether one has to choose between them.
Organised by the Society, Religion and Technology Project of the Church of Scotland
Supported by the Donald MacKay Memorial Trust
Monday April 1, 5 - 6 p.m.
Senate Room, Old College, Edinburgh University
Prof.Harold Thimbelby, Middlesex University explores current controversies of Cyberspace.
Thursday April 4, 10 a.m. - 5.30 p.m.
Senate Room, Old College, Edinburgh University
Wellcome Foundation day seminar on a range of issues, chaired by Rev. Kenneth Boyd.
Panellists include SRT Director Donald Bruce.
Friday 31 March, 18:00-19:30. Senate Room, Edinburgh University Old College
What is the proper place of science in society? Have we been looking at it in too narrow a way? What place is there for a more holisitic approach? Are there some answers science cannot provide? And where does God come into it? Three leading authorities explore some alternative ways of looking at science in today's world.
Mary Midgley, author of the book "Science as Salvation" and former senior lecturer in philosophy at Newcastle University
Aubrey Manning, Professor of Natural History at Edinburgh University
Professor Andrew Miller, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Stirling University.
Friday April 7, 20:00-21:30
Senate Room, Edinburgh University Old College
Why should we bother about the environment? Is global warming an exaggerated fear? Can we really change our outlook and behaviour enough to make a difference? And what has God got to do with it?
Sir John Houghton, co-chairman of the intergovernmental panel on Climate Change and Chairman of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, explores current issues, and argues that a Christian perspective has something important to say.
Monday April 10, 19:30-21:00.
Senate Room, Edinburgh University Old College
Russell Stannard, Professor of Physics at the Open University introduces extracts from a new video series which explores the relationship between science and Christian belief, and invites discussion on questions of cosmology, evolution, miracles and "scientism". The video is designed for schools RE and science curricula, and also for church groups keen to explore a Christian view on the science and faith debate, which remains as alive today as ever.
Organised by the Society, Religion and Technology Project, Church of Scotland, in conjunction with the Christian Education Movement, and sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation.
Sam Berry, Professor of Genetics at University College London
Friday, April 8, 6 pm
Senate Room, Old College, Edinburgh University
Did Darwin bury the God-explanation of life, or has evolution left something missing? Are we just a product of chance and time? What use is Genesis in an age of genetics? Are we evolving out of control of our environment?
Revd.Dr.John Polkinghorne, President of Queens College, Cambridge,
Friday, April 15, 4.30 pm,
Royal Society of Edinburgh, 22-24 George Street
Is there room for God in the Big Bang, or would a Theory of Everything make Him redundant? Does physics conquer all, or will God have the last word? One of the leading figures in the God and Science debate explores both the triumphs and the limitations of modern physics.
Dr.Fraser Watts, clinical psychologist and Starbridge lecturer in science and theology at Cambridge University
Monday, April 11, 6 pm
Senate Room, Old College, Edinburgh University
Will artificial intelligence will push us beyond the confines of the brain, or should we be content to be human? Are human beings reducible to brain processes? And is God all in the mind?
Thursday April 21, 2 - 4.30 pm
Senate Room, Old College, Edinburgh University
Some of the most exciting scientific developments of the last year have come in the field of human genetics. The first UK clinical trials of gene therapy have begun, attempting to rectify in a patient the defective gene which is responsible for a serious genetic disease. New discoveries in the human genome also open up the possibility of screening for many serious diseases, and may provide vital clues towards eventually treatments. But with these developments come difficult ethical dilemmas, for doctors, patients and researchers alike.
This Science Festival seminar is designed to give non-experts the chance to hear about the latest developments in these areas of human genetics, and to think about the ethical implications, in the company of to two leading Edinburgh geneticists, Professor David Brock and Dr.David Porteous, and medical ethics broadcaster Dr.David Cook. Professor Brock and Dr.Porteous will describe recent discoveries for about 30 minutes each, then Dr.Cook will introduce the ethical questions, which the three will then discuss. It will then be opened to the audience for questions and participation, finishing between 4:30 and 4:45.
David Brock is Professor of Human Genetics at the University of Edinburgh, specialising in pre-natal diagnosis & screening for genetic disorders. He developed a standard test for spina bifida.
Dr.David Porteous is Senior Scientist at the Medical Research Council's Human Genetics Unit at the Western General Hospital, Edinburgh. His primary research is in developing new therapies for the treatment of cystic fibrosis and is also interested in understanding the genetic aspects of psychological disorders.
Dr.David Cook is a fellow of Green College, Oxford, and is a lecturer and broadcaster in medical ethics, and is Director of the Whitefield Institute for Christian studies in social and ethical issues.
Was it Science? ....or Christianity? .... or the Enlightenment? .... or Market Forces?
SPECIAL INVESTIGATORS DEBATE THE EVIDENCE
at the Netherbow Theatre, 43-45 High Street, Edinburgh, Friday 23 April, 7.30 p.m
.....for the CRIME OF THE CENTURY
Dr.David Cook, Author and broadcaster, Fellow of Green College, Oxford
Dr.Ulrich Loening, Director of Centre for Human Ecology, Edinburgh University
Professor Aubrey Manning, of the Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology, Edinburgh University
The Most Revd.Richard Holloway, Episcopal Primus of Scotland and Bishop of Edinburgh
Ulrich Loening : "I declare our social backgrounds to our societies the guilty party.... There is plenty wrong with human nature but we did not have to set up social institutions to make the worst of it!"
David Cook will examine the common charge that Christianity is to blame. Is this valid? How much is this part of a wider social/cultural perspective? Can it, rather, provide a moral basis to resuscitate the victim?
Aubrey Manning : "The earth itself is indestructible, but will it go on supporting human beings? ... We have to take population control seriously - in the rich North, by example, as well as by the South. Just because it isn't sufficient to control the problem doesn't mean it isn't necessary."
