Scene from a Wednesday evening session during the 2019 LAFSF summer series at which Gerry Wood is delivering the after-dinner lecture at the Unitarian Church in Los Alamos. Courtesy/LAFSF

LAFSF News:

The Los Alamos Faith and Science Forum invites the community to its seventh annual summer program – this year via Zooming through cyberspace.

The lecture series begins at 6:30 p.m., every Wednesday starting June 3 and running for seven weeks through July 15. These sessions will be available on the internet via Zoom.

Registration information has already been sent to members and previous years’ attendees. Otherwise, register for these sessions using this link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUsd-uqqDouGN3l_cSiXO8Ztgw4URhsO_Sf

This summer’s series will explore a wide range of issues at the forefront of the science-religion intersection, instead of an invited speaker and a series of lectures that is primarily centered around a common theme that has been the model in the past.

LAFSF will examine the issue of hope in this uncertain age, discuss the relation of religion and ecology, return to the age-old questions of original sin and the problem of evil in light of recent scientific discoveries, look at the future of humanity both in the context of bioengineering advances and regarding ethical issues, and finally, investigate near-death experiences.

At the first session, LAFSF will familiarize those signed in with the Zoom process, followed by a short introduction to the topics that will be presented throughout the summer. Morrie Pongratz will follow with the first of the seven summer lectures. He will discuss the need for hope, both from the perspective of the individual as well as globally, drawing on the wisdom of a number of notable thinkers, from Teilhard de Chardin to Steven Pinker.

Schedule of presentations:

• June 3 — Introductions to Zoom and the summer series, followed by: “Why Have Hope?” – Morrie Pongratz
• June 10 — “A Mystery of the Mind: A Concern for the Planet as Part of Faith” – Bob Dryja
• June 17 — “The Problem of Evil” – Chick Keller
• June 24 — “The Genes of Genesis: Original Sin and Gene-Culture Co-evolution” – Nels Hoffman
• July 1 — “Transhumanism 1. Bioengineered Superhumans: Technology, Ethics, Religion” – Nels Hoffman
• July 8 — “Transhumanism 2. Path Forward: Superhighway or Rocky Road?” – Dan Winske and Bob Reinovsky
• July 15 — “Near Death Experiences” – Glenn Magelssen

During the past six summers, the Forum has presented programs featuring Wednesday evenings of suppers, lectures and discussions, based on specific themes and featuring highly recognized experts in areas at the intersection of religion and science. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, most of this summer’s plans have changed drastically: large gatherings and strong social interactions are not allowed or at best highly discouraged. In response to this situation – while maintaining the desire to continue the tradition of a summer lecture series – ‘Zoom’ will be used to stream the summer series out to previous participants as well as new people interested in these topics.