Evolution, design, and faith
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Recognition of an Intelligent Designer is a key idea in our Faith, but the phrase is problematic in public discourse because of creationism. We address Design and some of its implications, seeing creationist assertions as both bad science and bad theology, not supported in 'Abdu'l-Bahá’s statements about evolution. We then address the utility of belief in a personal God and the impact this has on our overall framework of understanding, arguing that this will, in future, prove to be a critical background assumption in the social sciences, and ultimately in the natural sciences as a whole.
Robert Sarracino
Robert Sarracino has a doctorate in physics from the University of Victoria, British Columbia, in the field of General Relativity. He is currently retired, living in St. John’s, Newfoundland. He and his wife, Lesley, lived in South Africa for many years, where he worked for a commercial explosives company and at the universities of the Witwatersrand and Cape Town, conducting research on detonation and rock fracture. He spent five years in Los Alamos, running a small mathematics consulting company. From 2010 to 2013 he taught in the Department of Mathematics and Natural Science at the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS).
From 2013 until his retirement in 2016 he was Principal Investigator in Numerical Modelling at the Centre for Arctic Resource Development (CARD), in St. John’s, Newfoundland, where he conducted research on the numerical modelling of sea ice and ice-structure interaction. He has had a life-long interest in the harmony of science and religion and has been a faculty member for the Wilmette Institute course on Science, Religion and the Bahá’í Faith since 2008.
Roger Neyman
Since retirement from software engineering in 2012 Roger has turned his energies to service and to scholarly work relating to a life-long and passionate concern with harmony between science and religion. This includes writing on the topic as well as serving as part of the faculty team for the Wilmette Institute course "Science, Religion and the Bahá’í Faith." His main channels of service are via the Wilmette Institute, community anti-racism work, and support of regional junior youth activities.
45th Annual Conference
In the Footsteps of ʻAbdu’l-Bahá: Contributing to the Discourses of Our Time
The views expressed in this recording are those of the presenters and do not necessarily represent the views of the Association for Bahá’í Studies, nor the authoritative explications of Bahá’í writings.