The authors of this statement constitute a group set up for the purpose by the Executive Committee of the International Society for Science and Religion. Through a process involving consultation with all members of the Society, the statement has now been accepted by the Executive Committee for publication as a statement made on behalf of the Society. The Society retains the copyright of the statement, but gives general permission to reproduce it, in whole or in part, provided that the statement in the paragraph immediately preceding this is reproduced. Comments on the statement can be found below. The International Society for Science and Religion is a scholarly society devoted to ongoing dialogue between the sciences and the community of world faiths (see www.issr.org.uk). It was established in 2002 for

The year 2009, which marked the bicentenary of Charles Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his book “On the Origin of Species”, there were many comments – often speculative or ill-informed – about Darwin’s religious or anti-religious beliefs. To provide a balanced view, and a stepping stone to further study by anyone interested, the ISSR Executive Committee asked the illustrious historian of science, John Hedley Brooke, to provide a brief, non-academic introduction to this topic. What did Darwin have to say about religion? What were his religious, or anti-religious, beliefs? Did he believe that his theory of evolution by natural selection was incompatible with belief in a Creator? Was it his revolutionary science that turned him into an agnostic? These questions have a special

The ISSR Executive Committee have asked ISSR member Sir John Houghton, to write about global warming, climate change and issues of sustainability from the point of view of both science and challenges to religious believers. Global Warming, Climate Change and Sustainability: A Challenge to Scientists, Policymakers and Religious Believers John Houghton In this essay, I first list some of the growing threats to the environment and introduce the important concept of sustainability. I then explain the threat arising from human induced climate change, summarising its scientific basis and the most significant impacts. I proceed to outline the action that is necessary to halt climate change. Finally, I emphasise the moral imperative for action and suggest how religious believers in particular should respond to the challenge. Why care for

Among philosophers and theologians, responses to the movement sometimes labelled the “new atheism” have been varied. A personal view by Keith Ward, which the ISSR Executive Committee feels is a good starting point for evaluation of this movement, may he read by clicking here. A further piece by him – originally published in the Church Times and responding to the views of Stephen Hawking – may be read by here. The New Atheism Keith Ward In the last few years a group of writers has come to world-wide prominence, widely known as the ‘New Atheists’. They have initiated a public campaign against religion, claiming it to be both irrational and harmful. They include the zoologist Richard Dawkins, philosophers Daniel Dennett and A. C. Grayling, and writers Christopher Hitchens and Sam

The extent to which neuroscience can at least potentially explain religious belief and experience has been understood in different ways. A survey and personal evaluation by Warren Brown, which the ISSR Executive Committee believes provides a good starting point for further study, may be read here. Warren S. Brown The International Society for Science and Religion is dedicated to fostering dialog between science and religion in order that persons of religious faith will have an adequate understanding of how science fits with a faithful view of human existence, and that science might have a sophisticated capacity to comprehend and interact with religious views. Particularly important in these science-religion conversations are those contexts in which religion itself becomes the focus of scientific study. The beginning of the 21st Century

Following recent events within the Royal Society centred on the issue of how creationism should be dealt with in the educational system, a Fellow of that Society – ISSR’s first President, John Polkinghorne – gave a brief personal view in a short article in the Times (London). This article, and another by ISSR member Michael Poole and focusing on the educational issue can be read here. www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article4790446.ece Another article – by ISSR member Michael Poole and focusing on the educational issue – was recently published in the School Science Review and may be read here. Creationism, intelligent design and science education by Michael Poole

ISSR would like to draw attention to a report – “Science, Evolution, and Creationism” – prepared by a committee of the National Academy of Sciences in the U.S., which we believe provides an important resource for an understanding of evolution by the general public. It can be read online or downloaded here by following the links to the report. www.nationalacademies.org/evolution

ISSR believes that people of all the main religious faith traditions have strong reasons for supporting the scientific enterprise. We also believe that these reasons, while they may vary from tradition to tradition, should be articulated as well as possible within each of them. An admirable example of this, in the view of our Executive Committee, is a Pastoral Letter recently circulated within the United Church of Christ, which may be read here: http://ucc.org/not-mutually-exclusive/pdfs/pastoral-letter.pdf