The corona period also acts like a burning glass on the relationship between science and religion: there is a natural event, the pandemic, and there are scientific data from virologists and epidemiologists that call for interpretation and reaction.
Seven renowned scientists and church representatives from very different parts of the world have asked themselves the question of how their societies, but also their religions, respond to the empirical findings: ignore, submit, fight or integrate.
[fvplayer src=»https://youtu.be/CmvuW-imA7E?list=PLw5nVpuWziiLEQsGyxdVqODZzgnrhy2q1″ splash=»https://i.ytimg.com/vi/MWuteQBog_k/maxresdefault.jpg» caption=»Nature, Science and Religion in the Mirror of the Corona Crisis»]
The interview partners were each asked similar questions:
- Virological tunnel vision? The empirical findings of epidemiologists and the reactions of government and religions
- Praying Corona away? Religious help to cope with the pandemic
- Good creation? Deadly viruses and the loving and caring God
- Learning effects? From the corona crisis to the environmental crisis
Without a representative claim, the answers are both surprisingly supra-regional and shaped by regional culture.
Interview partners
Prof. Dr. Evgeny Arinin, head of department of philosophy and religious studies, Vladimir State University, Russia
Johannes Bahlmann OFM, participant of the Synod on the Amazon, bishop of Óbidos in Brasil
Prof. Dr. Mathew Chandrankunnel CMI, Director of Ecumenical Christian Centre, Whitefield, Bangalore, India
Dr. William Grassie, scholar of comparative religion and philosophy of science, founder of Metanexus Institute, New York, USA
Dr. Antje Jackelén, expert in science and theology, archbishop of Uppsala and primate of the Church of Sweden
Dr. Boris Rähme, expert in social epistemology and theories of truth, Centro per le Scienze Religiose, Trient, Italien
Summary and comparison to Germany
Prof. Dr. Godehard Brüntrup SJ, Professor for metaphysics, philosophy of mind, vice president of Munich School of Philosophy, Germany
Addition: The failed attempt to curse Corona away
[fvplayer src=»https://youtu.be/OSIrQBGfUtw» splash=»https://i.ytimg.com/vi/OSIrQBGfUtw/maxresdefault.jpg» caption=»Judgment Is Executed on COVID-19: by Kenneth Copeland»]
On these and other fundamentalist attacks against viruses and virology, see above all the contributions by William Grassie and Evgeny Arinin.
