Seminar Discusses Recent Scientific Research and
Its Impact on Religious Thought

On 13 September, AAAS will present a seminar to consider the latest research on the natural environments that can give rise to life, and how that research might affect the thinking of philosophers and theologians.

"The question of the origin of life has lately become a lively field, both because of the studies of life in extreme environmental settings on earth, and the possible existence of life elsewhere in our solar system and beyond," says Jim Miller, Senior Program Associate for AAAS's Program of Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion.

The scientific perspective will be provided by keynote speaker Robert Hazen, Clarence Robinson Professor of Earth Science at George Mason University and a research scientist with the Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington. His respondent will be John Haught, Landegger Distinguished Professor of Theology at Georgetown University.

"John Haught will talk about what this new research does to our religious thinking, if we begin discovering that life is spread throughout the universe,"says Miller. "Haught is one of the few religious scholars who has given attention to the possibility of
extraterrestrial life."

According to Miller, the seminar will focus on a discussion of recent discoveries regarding the chemical origins of life, and their impact on "our broader understanding of what the universe is about and who we are in it."

The event will be held in the AAAS auditorium, 1200 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, DC. The program will begin with a reception at 5:15 p.m., followed by the keynote address at 6:00 p.m.

-- Coimbra Sirica