NewsTrust - Science and Religion - Most Recent Stories: News (Mainstream)

Culture Wars Hit History Classes in Texas

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Wall Street Journal - By Stephanie Simon - Jul. 15 (News Report) - The curriculum culture wars have taken a new twist, with a brewing controversy in Texas about how much of the Bible belongs in American history.

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Homosexual behaviour widespread in animals according to new study - Telegraph

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Daily Telegraph - By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent - Jun. 18 (News Report) - The pairing of same sex couples had previously been observed in more than 1,000 species including penguins, dolphins and primates. However, in the latest study the authors claim the phenomenon is not only widespread but part of a necessary biological adaptation for the survival of the species.

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Of trust and science

Sun, 05 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Baltimore Sun - By Stephanie Desmon - Apr. 05 (News Report) - On a recent morning they knocked on Mary Ann Stoltzfus' door, the research nurse and her Amish helper, just as they have on so many doors over the years. They didn't call ahead - most Amish don't have telephones. They tracked down Stoltzfus the old-fashioned way: They asked her mother-in-law for the address when they ran into her. There were consent forms to sign, nosy medical questions to ask. The pair turned Stoltzfus' kitchen into a makeshift doctor's office, where nurse Theresa Roomet drew five vials of blood as the 40-year-old mother of six rested her elbow on the lacy tablecloth.

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Obama Aims to Shield Science From Politics

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Rob Stein - Mar. 09 (News Report) - the president believes that it is particularly important to sign this memorandum so that we can put science and technology back at the heart of pursuing a broad range of national goals.

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Born believers: How your brain creates God

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0800

New Scientist - By Michael Brooks - Mar. 04 (Special Report) - That's not to say that the human brain has a "god module" in the same way that it has a language module that evolved specifically for acquiring language. Rather, some of the unique cognitive capacities that have made us so successful as a species also work together to create a tendency for supernatural thinking. "There's now a lot of evidence that some of the foundations for our religious beliefs are hard-wired," says Bloom.

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The Biology of Belief

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Time - By Jeffrey Kluger - Feb. 12 (Special Report) - Most folks probably couldn't locate their parietal lobe with a map and a compass. For the record, it's at the top of your head — aft of the frontal lobe, fore of the occipital lobe, north of the temporal lobe. What makes the parietal lobe special is not where it lives but what it does — particularly concerning matters of faith. If you've ever prayed so hard that you've lost all sense of a larger world outside yourself, that's your parietal lobe at work. If you've ever meditated so deeply that you'd swear the very boundaries of your body had dissolved, that's your parietal too. There are other regions responsible for making your brain the spiritual amusement park it can be: your thalamus plays a role, as do your frontal lobes. But it's your parietal lobe — a central mass of tissue that processes sensory input — that may have the most transporting effect.

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Spirituality Spot Found in Brain - Yahoo! News

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Yahoo! News - By Robin Nixon - Dec. 24 (News Report) - The area in question - the right parietal lobe - is responsible for defining "Me," said researcher Brick Johnstone of Missouri University. It generates self-criticism, he said, and guides us through physical and social terrains by constantly updating our self-knowledge: my hand, my cocktail, my witty conversation skills, my new love interest ...

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Judge in Miami Rules Florida Ban on Gay Adoption Unconstitutional

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

U.S. News & World Report - By Amanda Ruggeri - Nov. 25 (News Report) - A 1977 Florida state law that bans gay individuals from adopting has received its biggest challenge thus far: Foster father Frank Martin Gill won his suit to adopt two brothers he has been fostering since 2004. In her decision this morning, Miami Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman ruled that there was no "rational basis" to prevent the children from being adopted. The case, which marks the first time that a gay adoption case has been taken before a trial court in Florida, seems likely to go before the Florida Supreme Court, which could overturn the ban.

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About New York - Geothermal Energy Plan Is Delayed by New York's Bureaucracy

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Jim Dwyer - Nov. 21 (News Report) - Here was the easy part about an elegant, smart alternative energy project at an Episcopal seminary in Chelsea: drilling 1,500 feet through Manhattan schist to reach the water that runs deep and warm in the earth.

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Experts clash on gays' bids to adopt children

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Miami Herald - By Carol Marbin Miller - Nov. 17 (News Report) - The judge's ruling will determine whether a 4-year-old boy and his 8-year-old brother can be adopted by Frank Gill, the North Miami foster parent who has raised the boys for four years, and his partner. Lederman said she will decide on the adoption later this month. Florida is the only state that bans all gay people from adopting. This fall, a Circuit Court judge in Key West declared Florida's ban unconstitutional, although the decision is unlikely to hold much sway because it was not appealed to a higher court. Since the state is fighting Gill's attempt to adopt the two boys, a decision by Lederman to declare the law unconstitutional would be of far greater consequence. Most likely, the case will ultimately be decided by the Third District Court of Appeal or the Florida Supreme Court.

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Ruling Gives South Dakota Doctors a Script to Read

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Peter Slevin - Jul. 19 (News Report) - In a victory for antiabortion forces, doctors in South Dakota are now required to tell a woman seeking an abortion that the procedure "will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique living human being."

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Faithful give other religions benefit of doubt

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Associated Press - By Eric Gorski - Jun. 24 (Special Report) - America remains a nation of believers, but a new survey finds most Americans don't feel their religion is the only way to eternal life -- even if their faith tradition teaches otherwise. The findings, revealed Monday in a survey of 35,000 adults, can either be taken as a positive sign of growing religious tolerance, or evidence that Americans dismiss or don't know the fundamental teachings of their own faiths.

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Undercover with the Christian Right

Thu, 01 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Rolling Stone - By Matt Taibbi - May. 01 (Special Report) - By the end of the weekend I realized how quaint was the mere suggestion that Christians of this type should learn to "be rational" or "set aside your religion" about such things as the Iraq War or other policy matters. Once you've made a journey like this -- once you've gone this far -- you are beyond suggestible. It's not merely the informational indoctrination, the constant belittling of homosexuals and atheists and Muslims and pacifists, etc., that's the issue. It's that once you've gotten to this place, you've left behind the mental process that a person would need to form an independent opinion about such things. You make this journey precisely to experience the ecstasy of beating to the same big gristly heart with a roomful of like-minded folks. Once you reach that place with them, you're thinking with muscles, not neurons.

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Religion 'linked to happy life'

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

BBC News - Mar. 21 (News Report) - A belief in God could lead to a more contented life, research suggests. -- Religious people are better able to cope with shocks such as losing a job or divorce, claims the study presented to a Royal Economic Society conference. -- Data from thousands of Europeans revealed higher levels of "life satisfaction" in believers. -- However, researcher Professor Andrew Clark said other aspects of a religious upbringing unrelated to belief may influence future happiness.

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Science, Bible Agree: Giving Is Better

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Associated Press - By Randolph E. Schmid - Mar. 21 (News Report) - The Bible counsels misers that it's better to give than to receive. Science agrees. People who made gifts to others or to charities reported they were happier than folks who didn't share, according to a report in Friday's issue of the journal Science. -- While previous studies have shown that having more money can increase happiness, the researchers at the University of British Columbia and Harvard University wondered if the way people spent their money made any difference. -- Turns out, it does.

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Vatican lists new sins, including pollution

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Reuters - By Philip Pullella - Mar. 10 (Special Report) - Thou shall not pollute the Earth. Thou shall beware genetic manipulation. Modern times bring with them modern sins. So the Vatican has told the faithful that they should be aware of "new" sins such as causing environmental blight.

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US Court Dismisses Suit on Barr's Plan B Pill

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Reuters - By Kim Dixon - Mar. 04 (News Report) - A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit seeking to halt sales of the only "morning-after" contraceptive pill available in the United States without a prescription. The suit was filed against U.S. health regulators over their decision to allow non-prescription sales of Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc's (BRL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Plan B pill. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Barr were sued by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons and other groups seeking to overturn the FDA decision.

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Legislators: Evolution should be taught as 'theory'

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Miami Herald - By Marc Caputo - Feb. 06 (News Report) - TALLAHASSEE -- Top state legislators say they're ready to join the fight over putting the word ''evolution'' in Florida's public-school science standards to ensure that it's taught as just a theory and not as fact. Rep. Marti Coley, future House Speaker Dean Cannon and state Sen. Stephen Wise, all Republicans, say they're considering filing legislation this spring that would specifically call evolution a ''theory'' if the state Board of Education approves the proposed science standards Feb. 19 as currently written. For the first time in state history, the standards would clearly call on all science teachers to instruct middle- and high-schoolers about evolution and natural selection. The proposed standards just say ''evolution,'' not "Theory of Evolution.'' (...) In common usage, a theory is just a guess. In scientific terms, a theory -- like gravity or quantum mechanics -- is a testable explanation of a phenomenon based on facts. ''If you use the word theory to imply that scientists think evolution is just a hypothesis and is not real, that gives an incorrect impression,'' said Prof. Joseph Travis, the dean of Florida State University's Arts and Sciences College, who reviewed the state's science standards.

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Scientists track evolution of sight

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 05:44:05 -0800

McClatchy - By Robert S. Boyd - Nov. 06 (News Report) - Scientists have traced the origin of eyes back to a transparent blob of living jelly floating in the sea about 600 million years ago. That creature, the distant ancestor of a modern freshwater animal known as a hydra, could only distinguish light from dark. But that simple trick was such an advantage that it was passed on from generation to generation of the hydra's cousins and their myriad descendants. It was the precursor of the wildly different, ever more complex eyes of fish, ants, flies, giraffes and people. The hydra work was reported last month in the journal PLoS One by biologists David Plachetzki and Todd Oakley of the University of California at Santa Barbara. It helps solve one of the puzzles of Darwinian evolution, the process by which a complex organ such as an eye could arise by random genetic mutations and natural selection. ''These results are significant in advancing our understanding of the early evolution of sight in animals,'' said Jerry Cook, a program director at the National Science Foundation, which financed the work. The discovery also helps to counter one of the principal arguments used by anti-evolutionists to discredit Charles Darwin's theory and to support their belief in ``intelligent design.''

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Religion and Public Life - In God's name

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 17:51:54 -0700

Economist - Nov. 01 (Special Report) - With modernity now religion's friend, an eternal subject has become fashionable. Father Richard John Neuhaus points out that when he founded his Centre for Religion and Society in 1984, there were only four centres of religion and public life in America; now, he thinks, there are more than 200. Religious people are getting more vocal in all sorts of fields, including business. Religion is also cropping up in economics. Niall Ferguson, a Scottish historian, re-examined Max Weber's theory of the Protestant work ethic to explain why Europeans work less than Americans.

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Offering Comfort to the Sick and Blessings to Their Healers

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 08:28:16 -0700

New York Times - By Jan Hoffman - Jul. 17 (Special Report) - "My job is to be present to patients without judgment," Chaplain Muncie says as she pumps a hand sanitizer, "and to help them find out what is meaningful to guide them through the stress of illness." Most health care facilities around the country work with clergy members. But their involvement varies widely. Some hospitals merely have a list of on-call pastors; others retain professionally trained, board-certified health care chaplains, like Ms. Muncie, who is the only full-time cleric at St. Luke's.

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Life 2.0 - Scientists Push the Boundaries of Human Life

Wed, 30 May 2007 10:18:59 -0700

Newsweek - By Lee Silver - May. 30 (Special Report) - It last happened about 3.6 billion years ago. a tiny living cell emerged from the dust of the Earth. It replicated itself, and its progeny replicated themselves, and so on, with genetic twists and turns down through billions of generations. Today every living organism--every person, plant, animal and microbe--can trace its heritage back to that first cell. Earth's extended family is the only kind of life that we've observed, so far, in the universe. This pantheon of living organisms is about to get some newcomers--and we're not talking about extraterrestrials. Scientists in the last couple of years have been trying to create novel forms of life from scratch. They've forged chemicals into synthetic DNA, the DNA into genes, genes into genomes, and built the molecular machinery of completely new organisms in the lab--organisms that are nothing like anything nature has produced. The people who are defying Nature's monopoly on creation are a loose collection of engineers, computer scientists, physicists and chemists who look at life quite differently than traditional biologists do. Harvard professor George Church wants "to do for biology what Intel does for electronics"--namely, making biological parts that can be assembled into organisms, which in turn can perform any imaginable biological activity. Jay Keasling at UC Berkeley received $42 million from Bill Gates to create living microfactories that manufacture a powerful antimalaria agent. And then there's Craig Venter, the legendary biotech entrepreneur who made his name by decoding the human genome for a tenth of the predicted cost and in a tenth of the predicted time. Venter has put tens of millions of dollars of his own money into Synthetic Genomics, a start-up, to make artificial organisms that convert sunlight into biofuel, with minimal environmental impact and zero net release of greenhouse gases. These organisms, he says, will "replace the petrochemical industry, most food, clean energy and bioremediation."

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If It Feels Good to Be Good, It Might Be Only Natural

Mon, 28 May 2007 08:56:48 -0700

Washington Post - By Shanker Vedantam - May. 28 (News Report) - The more researchers learn, the more it appears that the foundation of morality is empathy. Being able to recognize -- even experience vicariously -- what another creature is going through was an important leap in the evolution of social behavior. And it is only a short step from this awareness to many human notions of right and wrong, says Jean Decety, a neuroscientist at the University of Chicago. The research enterprise has been viewed with interest by philosophers and theologians, but already some worry that it raises troubling questions. Reducing morality and immorality to brain chemistry -- rather than free will -- might diminish the importance of personal responsibility. Even more important, some wonder whether the very idea of morality is somehow degraded if it turns out to be just another evolutionary tool that nature uses to help species survive and propagate.

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Genetics News

Mon, 19 Mar 2007 04:26:54 -0700

Wittenburg Door -- The World's Pretty Much Only Religious Satire Magazine - By Joe Bob Briggs - Mar. 19 (Not sure) - After several years of research, scientists at the Clinical Molecular Genetics Laboratory at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico have isolated three genes that are believed to prove a biological basis for becoming a practicing Southern Baptist. "We were stunned," said Jose Aguilar de la Estacionamiento, Director of Basic Research at the university, at a morning press conference. "We were actually looking for the determinant gene for sphincter occlusion. It's one of those inadvertent discoveries that sometimes occur when you're doing basic science."

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Homosexuality May Be Based on Biology, Baptist Says

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 08:39:13 -0700

Associated Press - Mar. 16 (News Report) - The president of the leading Southern Baptist seminary [R. Albert Mohler Jr.] has suggested that a biological basis for homosexuality may be proven, and that prenatal treatment to reverse gay orientation would be biblically justified.

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