AAAS Dialogue on Science, Ethics and Religion

DoSER Overview

AAAS established the Program of Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion (DoSER) in 1995 to facilitate communication between scientific and religious communities. The Dialogue builds on AAAS's long-standing commitment to relate scientific knowledge and technological development to the purposes and concerns of society at large.

The Dialogue

The AAAS has sought both to advance science itself and to relate scientific knowledge and technological development to the purposes and concerns of society at large for over 150 years. Issues of value and ethics are raised by the appearance of technologies not even imagined by earlier generations.

Questions of meaning and religion emerge from our deepening understanding of the natural order. Issues of value and meaning are grounded in the disciplines of ethics and religion. The scientific community needs to be in dialogue with both fields in order to understand the cultural context within which science operates and to respond to the societal issues opened up by scientific discovery and technological development. AAAS provides a uniquely credible forum for that engagement because of its disciplinary breadth.

DoSER engages in a variety of activities that seek to:

• Encourage an appreciation among scientists, religious leaders and religion scholars of the ethical, religious and theological implications of scientific discoveries and technological innovations.
• Promote and facilitate scholarship on the ethical, religious and theological implications of contemporary scientific discoveries and technological innovations.
• Improve the level of scientific understanding in religious communities.
• Increase the engagement of scientific communities in the dialogue on science, ethics, and religion.
• Facilitate collaboration among scientists, ethicists, and religion scholars and leaders to address critical multidisciplinary issues related to science, ethics and religion.
• Further public understanding of the dialogue on science, ethics, and religion.

See DoSER's past events

Support Statement

The AAAS DoSER Program is an initiative of AAAS Center of Science, Policy and Society Programs. Its activities are guided by the goals and principles of the Association under the oversight of an advisory committee appointed by the AAAS Board of Directors. General and specific project support has come from a variety of sources, including:

• John Templeton Foundation
• Pew Charitable Trust
• John and Esther Klingenstein Foundation
• Greenwall Foundation
• Institute for Civil Society
• National Institutes of Health/ELSI
• E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation
• Counterbalance Foundation
• Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences
• Center for Research in Science of Azusa Pacific University
• Smithsonian Institution
• Science & Spirit Magazine
• Numerous individuals