| “Bangalore is a city that prides itself as the science capital of India, but usually its scientists do not worry too much about what, if anything, may be beyond science. I consider the SSQ meeting a great success, because I believe the scientists will now be compelled to take the issues discussed there more seriously; and the lay public of this science city were captivated by the serious discussions that brought together modern science and ancient Indic traditions on the same platform, in a tantalizing dialogue that revealed where the differences and the similarities lay.”
— Roddam Narasimha, director, National Institute of Advanced Studies,
Indian Institute of Science and Naitonal Aerospace Laboriatories, Bangalore, India | | |  |  “We began,” says Clayton, “by finding 60 scientists who were prestigious enough in their fields and knowledgeable enough in their religious traditions.” Scientists then gathered for well-publicized meetings in settings designed to call attention to what was occurring. In June 1998, for example, press from across America and overseas descended on the University of California at Berkeley campus for the Science & the Spiritual Quest conference. Prominent, sometimes enraged, anti-religious scientists demanded equal time at the podium to defend the incompatibility of religion and science. Many media articles reported on that summer’s event, including the cover story in Newsweek: “Science Finds God.” Charles Harper, observed that SSQ succeeded in both “attracting the attention of academics and opinion leaders and in winning significant public opinion.”
The gauntlet had been thrown down. SSQ continued to make a frontal assault on the widespread perception that religious belief and scientific prowess were somehow in opposition to each other. Behind podia at prestigious universities around the world, leading scientists were sharing their spiritual journeys in front of packed auditoriums. “Scientists are often enthusiastic,” notes Clayton, “when for the first time, they discover significant connections between science and religion.”
In the fall of 2001, just weeks after the September 11 tragedy, Harvard University hosted an SSQ gathering that broke attendance records. A highly engaged roster of participants reflected on the value of science as a common ground to unite a tragically fragmented humanity. “Now,” reflected SSQ co-director Mark Richardson, “is the time when progressive elements of all the traditions must show backbone and declare themselves to be an alternative to the intolerance and hostility of dogmatism.” Sufi astronomer Bruno Guiderdoni concurred, calling for both science and belief in God to be “forces for wholeness and not for fragmentation.” In the wake of September 11, “Spiritual Quest” took on a new urgency.
Bangalore, India, hosted the final SSQ conference early in 2003. The program included a four-day meeting for scholars, a large public event at the Indian Institute of Science and an open-air concert attended by more than 6,500 people. Clayton was impressed with the Indians’ appreciation for the significance of Science and the Spiritual Quest: “More than in any other intellectual and cultural context in which the Quest has been active, the Indian participants sounded calls for a deeper integration of science and religion,” he observed. Richardson agreed: “It is humbling to realize the depth of the insight in the Indic traditions and the new spiritual knowledge that they offer.”
Into 2003 SSQ continued to assemble leading scientists from around the world in smaller private workshops; public conferences and telecasts, books and articles that focused attention on science and religion. Clayton, the primary architect of the program and a well-respected philosopher, is convinced that “something unbelievable has occurred.” Clayton, deeply versed in the Western intellectual tradition, believes that we are witnessing the dawn of a new era. “For the first time in its history, modern science and its practitioners have begun to grapple with the fundamental questions of human existence.” And the results are reaching far beyond the ivory towers of the academy. “In the business and political arenas and in the public at large, people are noticing. The changes are revolutionary: When worlds collide, everything is realigned,” says Clayton.
|
