Yogyakarta Society for Science and Religion

Yogyakarta Society for Science and Religion

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Center for Religious and Cross-Cultural Studies
Gadjah Mada University
Yogyakarta

As an interfaith and interdisciplinary forum on science and religion, Yogyakarta Society for Science and Religion (YSSR) is the first of its kind in Indonesia. Established in 2003, YSSR has brought up many central issues of science and religion, especially in the Indonesian context, from the academe to the public. The main activity at the heart of YSSR is monthly roundtable discussion, attended by members from five educational institutions (secular as well as Islamic and Christian universities), with scholarly interests ranging from quantum physics, bioanthropology, medical chemistry, environmental science, economics, anthropology to philosophy of science, ethics, Islamic theology, and Protestant liberation ethics. After concentrating in its first year on theoretical issues such as creation in science (mainly cosmology and evolution) and theology, the group has been focusing on environmental ethics (with concentration on food, water and energy crises) and bioethics. Their primary interest is to see what role religions can play in increasing public awareness of the issues as well as how ethical values may contribute to policy-making, especially in the context of national education. To that end YSSR has two annual public seminars which bring to the wider national public issues discussed in the monthly discussions.