Conference on Christian Values, Science Coming to Calvin

March 17, 2006 == MEDIA ADVISORY

A top-notch conference on the relationships between Christian values and
science and technology will take place this summer at Calvin College.

Among the keynote speakers will be U.S. Congressman Vern Ehlers, a former
professor of physics at Calvin.

"Embedding Christian Values in Science and Technology" will take place at
Calvin July 28-31, 2006 as the 61st annual meeting of the American Scientific
Affiliation (ASA).

Calvin professor of biology Hessel Bouma III is serving as program chair for
the annual meeting and says the mix of speakers and workshops touches on some
of society's hot-button issues vis a vis the intersections of faith and
science.

"We'll be looking at everything from the ethics of human stem cells to
evolution and how life began to the proper role of biotechnology in growing our
food," says Bouma, whose expertise is medical ethics. "These are the issues
that are the fodder for the nation's biggest and best newspapers, for the
country's broadcast networks and for a growing number of blogs and websites
that examine science and religion."

Bouma says that the ASA, and its counterpart the Canadian Scientific and
Christian Affiliation, are the premier organizations of Christian scientists,
theologians, philosophers and historians interested in the intersections and
interactions between science and the Christian faith in North America.

"As such," he says, "our annual meeting is always a place for people to come
together and talk about the important scientific and technological issues of
the day."

In addition to Ehlers other confirmed keynote speakers are Celia
Deane-Drummond from the University of Chester in the U.K., Rudolf Jaenisch of
the Whitehead Institute at MIT, Karen Lebacqz of the Yale University
Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics, and Francis Collins, director of the
National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health.

And William Hurlbut, the physician on the President's Council on Bioethics and
a long-time member of ASA, will be part of the symposium on human stem cells.
Hurlbut has been proposing and promoting an idea to produce stem cells from
damaged eggs that lack the potential to become healthy embryos, fetuses and
newborns. Already MIT's Jaenisch has taken the idea and shown it could work in
animal models.

For the complete story see
http://www.calvin.edu/news/releases/2005_06/asa_conference.htm
Contact Bouma at 616-526-6401 or boum@calvin.edu

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Received on Fri Mar 17 10:35:24 2006