Pope Advocates Melding of S&R
Pope Benedict XVI warned some 120,000 worshipers at a Mass on Sunday of the dangers of a society without God, forging ahead with his fight against secularism on the second day of a three-day trip to the Czech Republic. Later, in an address to Czech academics in Prague, the pope inveighed against the perils of relativism. He also underlined the need to mend “the breach between science and religion.” (Dan Bilefsky, The New York Times)

Anti-Science Backlash Impedes Biotech
The world is on the brink of a new biotech revolution but is being held back by an “anti-science” backlash, says Adam Bly, the editor of Seed. (Hank Daniszewski, The London Free Press)

King Abdullah: Science and Faith Are Not at War
Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz said that throughout history, power has attached itself (after God) to science, and the Muslim ummah is well aware that it will not be powerful unless it depends (after God) upon science. The king also stressed that science and faith are only adversaries in sick minds, and God has graced us with our minds so that we can understand and recognize God’s laws of nature. (Ali Sharaya and Amal Baqzi, Asharq Alawsat)

The Irony of Belief in an Afterlife
It appears that death drives most people to want to believe in life after death, but, to the extent they cannot distance their sense of self from their physical body, actual belief can be hindered. Ironically, death salience can actually hurt actual belief in these cases, all the while increasing desire to believe. (Nathan Heflick, Psychology Today)

Arguments Over Social Studies Standards Continue in Texas
Texas schoolchildren should know how God and religion greatly influenced the country’s Founding Fathers more than 230 years ago, say some of the experts reviewing the state’s social studies curriculum. It is a viewpoint that troubles others who worry that a controlling majority of conservatives on the State Board of Education may go too far in pushing Christianity in public schools. (Gary Scharrer, The Houston Chronicle)