JACKSON, Tenn. (BP)–What does it mean to be human? Is stem cell research right or wrong? Are certain types of cloning OK? Union University professors Hal Poe and Jimmy Davis hope to start a dialogue on these and other issues in the region surrounding Union’s west-Tennessee campus when their new organization, the Baconian Society, gets underway this month.
Poe, Union’s Charles Colson Professor of Faith and Culture, and Davis, associate provost, have received a $15,000 grant that pays start-up costs for dialogue groups exploring the exchange between science and religion.
The Baconian Society “was a logical development between what Hal and I did for years,” Davis said. “We developed a course called ‘Science and Faith’ and two books. Now we want to take these questions to a larger audience,” using the Local Societies Initiative Grant provided by the Metanexus Institute on Science and Religion, an organization that provides grants for colleges, universities and seminaries.
The Baconian Society will be open to people in the western side of the state involved in science and religion — professors, clergy, doctors and nurses, scientists in business and in education, students and the general public. “We hope to involve not only the Union University students and faculty, but others schools as well, including Memphis schools,” Poe said. “This will not be just a Union group, but a community group.”
The question of what it means to be human will be explored by the society during its initial years.
“We plan to approach it from many different disciplines,” Poe said. “This question impacts every dimension of life.” Among the specific topics to be discussed: cloning, stem cell research, abortion and other recent scientific issues. One goal of the society is, Davis said, to face the challenge of defining what a human is and how to deal with these issues as Christians.
The society will meet twice a month during the fall and spring semesters of the academic school year. Each meeting will include a presentation of a topic by a Union faculty member or a guest speaker. Although the first meeting will be held at Union, Poe and Davis eventually hope to hold meetings at sister institutions.
The first meeting will be Tuesday, Oct. 29, at 7 p.m. in Jennings Hall on Union’s Jackson campus and will be co-sponsored by the Mars Hill Forum, a program offered by Union’s Carl F.H. Henry Center for Christian Leadership. The discussion will be based around Davis and Poe’s most recent book, “Designer Universe.”
The meetings will follow a formal presentation and response format that will offer a balance of thought from both faith and science. If a theologian makes the presentation, a scientist will deliver a prepared response and vice versa. An open discussion will follow the formal presentation time.
There will be a membership fee, and students will be charged less than other members. Details about the society, which will include an e-mail list, can be accessed http://www.uu.edu/societies/baconian/.
The name of the society is a significant factor for both men. The original name was the Society for Science and Faith. However, after some thought, they changed the name to the Baconian Society in honor of the scientist Sir Francis Bacon.
“He is the father of the scientific method,” Poe said. “He was also a philosopher, a scientist, a politician and a writer. He saw this marvelous interplay of all the different spheres of knowledge. He best represents what we want for this group.”
–30–
Holden is a journalism major at Union University.
