Tuesday, February 9th

Starter 17:  
Read pages 191 (from "Religion and the Indifferent Universe") to the end of "The Meaning of Life" reading.  How/Why does religion help people answer the questions of our existence? What new ideas does this reading give you about the meaning of life? 

Class Biz
Honors book club seminar THURSDAY 7th period

Agenda
1. Thoughts on Religion and Science  
Are religion and science compatible?  Can they work together to illuminate meaning in our lives?  Or do they contradict each other?

In groups, make a T-chart.
Label the left column: "Commonalities between Religion and Science"
Label the column on the right: "Areas where you see tension between them"

2. SHARE OUT

3. Stephen Jay Gould's "NOMA" Non-overlapping Magisteria
Feel free to read Gould's original article (linked above) for more depth of information!

Non-overlapping magisteria (NOMA) is the view advocated by Stephen Jay Gould that science and religion each represent different areas of inquiry, fact vs. values, so there is a difference between the "nets" [1] over which they have "a legitimate magisterium, or domain of teaching authority," and the two domains do not overlap.[2] He suggests, with examples, that "NOMA enjoys strong and fully explicit support, even from the primary cultural stereotypes of hard-line traditionalism" and that it is "a sound position of general consensus, established by long struggle among people of goodwill in both magisteria."[1] Still, there continues to be disagreement over where the boundaries between the two magisteria should be.[3]

Quote from Gould:  "Our failure to discern a universal good does not record any lack of insight or ingenuity, but merely demonstrates that nature contains no moral messages framed in human terms. Morality is a subject for philosophers, theologians, students of the humanities, indeed for all thinking people. The answers will not be read passively from nature; they do not, and cannot, arise from the data of science. The factual state of the world does not teach us how we, with our powers for good and evil, should alter or preserve it in the most ethical manner"

4. READ The Meaning of Life in a Formula and jot down some notes on your article to help you contribute to our discussion on the following questions:

• How does the author answer our starter prompt?
• To what extent do you AGREE OR DISAGREE with the author?

5. Individual Student-led seminar prep time!

• Review what theme you all chose.  If need be, summarize your interpretation of that theme (What is the importance of it? What message is the author sharing, etc...?) How do the quotes you chose show the meaning of that theme?
  
• Divide up the roles listed under Step 2
• Get crankin' on your required components (Step 1 and Step 2)