The 39th Annual Cosmos & Creation Conference was held virtually Saturday, June 12 through Sunday, June 13, 2021.
Keynote Speaker
Dr. Richard Blum
Professor Emeritus, Loyola University Maryland
Saturday, June 12, 2021
From Pantheism to Secularism: Why Religion and Science are Mutual Problems
Topic Overview
Both presentations will look at the science and religion question from an historical point of view. First, we will see how the problem arose from Renaissance attempts to bridge the gap between philosophy and revelation. The unintended effect was that rational research appeared to replace religion. Key figures were the Byzantine scholar Georgios Gemistos Plethon and Marsilio Ficino. Traces of their efforts resound in pantheists and secularists like Charles Blount, Ethan Allen, and other luminaries of American culture.
The second presentation will look at how authorities like Carl Sagan and Stephen Jay Gould understood the historical roots of modern science and its independence from religion. From there it becomes clear that some efforts in the history of science to integrate the divine and the natural in the forms of pantheism, pan-en-theism, and panpsychism were not impeding scientific understanding but supporting it.
Keynote Talks
Lecture 1: Saturday, June 12, 10-11:15 am
“From Pantheism to Secularism”
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Lecture 2: Saturday, June 12, 3-4:15 pm
“Religion and Science – Mutual Support?”
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Member Talk
Sunday, June 13, 10-10:45 am
"The History of Quantum Theory" with Carl Helrich
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