St Mary’s church Totnes will be hosting a Come and Do Science event at 6.00 pm on Thursday November 16th in conjunction with the regular ‘Unity in Diversity’ inter-faith gathering.
In this hands-on experience, attendees will get to see for themselves the kinds of scientific experiments which show that church services are not just empty rituals.
The event will explore a range of questions about Christian worship, including: is it foolish to think that God is ‘up there’, what is achieved by saying things in unison, and can worship promote a flexible and tolerant faith?
The session will be led by Professor Ken Miles and Team Rector, Revd Jim Barlow.
Ken is a clinical academic and science & faith author from Totnes whose book ‘From Billiard Balls to Bishops: A scientist’s introduction to Christian worship’ reached the top 100 of Amazon’s list of Science & Religion titles.
“The old battles between science and faith are over” says Ken. “Churches are beginning to realise that science offers God-given resources which can support a life of faith and worship.”
Revd Jim Barlow said “It is easy to think of religious experience and practices as unscientific and outdated but they persist because, on some level, it turns out they work”.
Ken hopes that whatever their beliefs or background, people will come and see how science can bring worship alive in a new way.
“Science is a quest for truth about the natural world. But science can also be part of a quest for another kind of truth, one for which worship is an appropriate real-world response.”