A Five Part Series from TTBOOK!

Public Radio International

Wisconsin Public Radio

Science & the Search for Meaning: 5 Questions
Part Five: CAN SCIENCE BE SACRED?

Program 10-12-19-A

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What if you don't believe in God, and the thought of church makes you queasy? Can you still experience the sacred? There's a growing movement of secular scientists who revel in the awe and wonder of nature. In fact, many consider this a religious experience – without God. We'll talk about the search for a science-based spirituality, and hear from a leading animist philosopher, in this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge.

SEGMENT 1:

Steve Paulson reports on a growing movement among secular scientists and philosophers, E.O. Wilson, Ursula Goodenough, Joel Primack, George Vaillant, Jane Goodall and Stuart Kauffman. They believe the natural world around us is full of marvels and mysteries, but they typically don't believe in God. Neither do they like the term "atheist." Some prefer "Religious Naturalist." Steve fills us in on "the awe and wonder crowd." (see below for complete transcripts of Steve's interviews with Wilson, Goodall & Kaufmann).

SEGMENT 2:

Diana Beresford-Kroeger is a botanist and medical biochemist. Her new essay collection is called "The Global Forest." She tells Anne Strainchamps that the lives of trees and human beings are inter-related all the way down to the molecular level. Also, Arthur Zajonc (rhymes with science) is a physicist at Amherst College, and a long time meditator. He's talked on various occasions with the Dalai Lama about physics and the contemplative life. He tells Jim Fleming that Einstein's idea of god is common to many top scientists. We also hear from orangutan researcher Birute Galdikas.

SEGMENT 3:

David Abram is an environmental philosopher and author of "Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology." He's something of an animist who finds a living presence in just about everything. Abrams tells Steve Paulson about his beliefs and recounts a remarkable story about a shaman who could turn himself into a raven.

CD copies are available at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 10-12-19-A.

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Books & CDs:

Ursula Goodenough, The Sacred Depths of Nature (Oxford)
David Abram, Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology (Pantheon)
Stuart A Kauffman, Reinventing the Sacred: A New View of Science, Reason, and Religion (Basic Books)
Diana Beresford-Kroeger, The Global Forest (Viking)

Websites:

• Complete Transcripts of Steve Paulson's Interviews with:
  Jane Goodall
  E.O. Wilson
  Stuart Kauffman

Music:

• -- "Under A Stormy Sky"/Daniel Lanois
  from the CD, "Acadie: Goldtop Edition" (Red Floor Records)
  
• -- "Science of the Sacred"/Vacuum
  from the CD, "Plutonium Cathedral" (Stockholm Records/Import)
  
• -- "Journey to the Underworld"/Michael Stearns & Ron Sunsinger
  from the CD, "Sorcerer" (Spotted Peccary Music)
  
• -- "Malibu Wave"/Lynn Patrick
  from the CD, "On the Wind" (Dakota Ridge Records)
  
• -- "On the Wind"/Lynn Patrick
  from the CD, "On the Wind" (Dakota Ridge Records)
  
• -- "Treebeard"/Howard Shore
  from the CD, "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Soundtrack" (Reprise Records)
  
• -- "The Sheltering Sky"/King Crimson
  from the CD, "Discipline" (Warner Bros.)

Distribution dates: week of 12/19/2010 - hour 1 click HERE for timings and cues

Listen (RealAudio) OR Download mp3

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