Physics and Religion

Aspects of religion with science/religion have been covered in the pages of \textit{Physics} \textit{Today} and \textit{Physics News}. They reflect wide student interest in these topics. For a decade, two physicists and a campus minister have taught a writing-intensive course ``Issues in Science and Religion'' Physics/Sociology 137. Here we outline our course (open to all students), to encourage others contemplating similar courses. Many students escape an exposure to the basics of science, and so we capture them. We discuss \textit{inter alia} relativity and uncertainties (both quantum and classical, which fascinate students), including their controversial relationships with religion. One of us (LF), as a biophysicist, was asked to cover evolution, which topic has proved to be rather popular: Various scientific organizations have publicly defended evolution against intelligent design and creationism. To keep the quality of the course, we have restricted enrollment. Here we discuss only the science/physics part of the course. Visiting speakers (covering the gamut from religious to non-religious) have included a Vatican astronomer, a Sloan survey cosmologist, the director of SETI, a neuropsychologist, a sociologist, historians of science and theologians.