New Horizons is a community of inquirers devoted to an ongoing dialogue between religion and science. The various themes discussed include the relation between physics and belief in a divine reality, the relation between consciousness and the brain, and the need for an emerging ethic of respect and care for the community of life.
Anyone is free to join New Horizons. It exists physically at Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas and electronically via the internet. At the electronic level, the organization is specifically interested in facilitating discussions among college undergraduates with help from its discussion board. A discussion forum has been created using the a special internet program called Educator. If you are a college undergraduate and would like to join discussions, contact Ingrid Geisler (geislerie@hendrix.edu). She will create a user account for you.
New Horizons is jointly sponsored by the Metanexus Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the Steel Center for the Study of Religion and Philosophy at Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas. The Metanexus website (www.metanexus.org) gives a broad and intensive understanding of the many issues involved in religion-science dialogue.
The programs of New Horizons include regular Friday Afternoon Discussions in Hendrix College’s Raney Building; student internships for shadowing spiritually interested scientists; speakers who are brought to Hendrix from various parts of the country; and discussions in local churches, mosques, and synagogues. Dr. Jay McDaniel of the Hendrix Steel Center is the director of New Horizons. Its advisory board consists of people from many different religions who live in central Arkansas.
New Horizons seeks to speak to people of many religions and to scientists who are interested in religion. In addition to the challenge of science-religion dialogue, the organizers of New Horizons assume that, today, people in the world’s religions face five serious challenges:
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The Compassion Challenge: To live compassionately, highlighting compassion and love-in-action as key to healthy religious life.
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The Repentance Challenge: To live self-critically, acknowledging ways in which religious people fall short of their higher ideals and in which religion itself has sometimes been a source of prejudice and arrogance in the world.
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The Consumerism Challenge: To provide an alternative to consumerism, helping people avoid the tragedies of poverty but also the trappings of conspicuous consumption.
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The Ecological Challenge: To live ecologically, helping people recognize their responsibilities to the wider web of life.
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The Diversity Challenge: To welcome religious diversity, encouraging people of different religions to recognize that many religions contain wisdom relevant to human flourishing.
The dialogue between science and religion, then, is best understood in light of these additional challenges. The hope is that the science-religion dialogue can assist religiously minded people in meeting the challenges and also assist science in better serving the needs of the world. In the words of Jay McDaniel: “The future calls people of many religions and no religion to meet five challenges. New Horizons seeks to help students and citizens respond to this historical calling.”
If you find yourself interested in the programs of New Horizons, or in engaging in the dialogue yourself, please keep your eyes on this website and many others like it, as named in the links.