Baha'i Conference Seeks to Close Gap Between Faith and Action

October 20, 2005

Source: Science and Technology News

http://www.stnews.org/News-1804.htm

On October 20, 2005 Science and Technology News reported, "For the Baha’i faith, understanding the relationship between science and religion is crucial to spiritual growth. A recent conference on 'Science, Religion, and Social Transformation' organized by the Association for Baha’i Studies in Boston aimed to close the widening chasm between philosophical understandings of science and religion and their application to the tangible world. Baha'is see 'physical reality as a means by which we can come to understand metaphysical abstractions,' said John Hatcher, author and graduate director of English literature at the University of South Florida, in his keynote address. 'It is a cleverly des igned classroom.' Science and religion are, therefore, not just academic disciplines, but practical paths to understanding and developing spiritual, intellectual and emotional beings, and as well as advancing societies... Perhaps due to a lack of formal clergy in the religion, a strong undercurrent of broad personal responsibility in applying science and religion to social transformation was evident throughout the conference."

See also: Bahá'í, Civic, Boston