The Baylor Society for Conversations in Religion, Ethics and Science
Baylor University
Department of Environmental Studies
Waco, Texas
This group consists of Baylor faculty and students, along with interested professionals and students from regional churches, hospitals, industries and other educational institutions. The Society actively recruits undergraduate and graduate student members and involves them in planning and organizational roles. Membership is open to all faiths, and the Society actively seeks to diversify its dialogue by inviting voices from other area religious communities. The Society engages in three types of activities: dinner and planning meetings for members, semester-long seminars on selected topics, and outreach to other educational institutions to encourage co-sponsorship of future programs in religion, science, and ethics. Monthly seminars are open to the public and advertised to local religious congregations and the general public through bulletins, local newspapers, a campus-based website, posters, and the Baylor calendar. Seminar formats vary with speakers and panel discussions. Each semester features a different planning team of seminar organizers to incorporate both applied and basic sciences with religious ethics on topics such as cloning and genetic the revolution, aquatic systems and water management, pollution and toxins. Other topical material includes explorations of Christianity and contemporary cosmology, environmental science, and Kuhn, theology, and scientific revolutions. Matching funds are provided by Baylor University.