Tracing the evidence of design: Natural theology through an unpublished manuscript by William Stanley Jevons.

This paper takes its cue from an unpublished manuscript by the Victorian polymath William Stanley Jevons (1835-1882). I elucidate how he attempted to integrate science and religion through natural theology. I argue that Jevons's manuscript shows that he took the theory of probability to be the most appropriate tool for finding evidence of divine design in natural phenomena. Jevons thus took part in the nineteenth-century natural theology debate, specifically between William Whewell and Charles Babbage. This debate was about both how to interpret the analogy between natural and human contrivances, and about the tools which should be used in natural theology. After introducing the manuscript, I present Jevons's religious ideas about Unitarianism and the relationship between chance and design in his writings. I show Jevons's commitment to natural theology and his idea that humans, due to their finite intellect, should use the theory of probability to investigate divine providence. I then compare Jevons's position to Whewell's and Babbage's Bridgewater Treatises. I show how they had different conceptions of natural theology compared to Jevons, and different ideas about the tools that should be used to investigate natural laws.

[Islam and assisted reproduction treatments: an empirical study on the relationship between science and religion in Tangier and Barcelona.] / El islam ante los tratamientos de reproducción asistida: un estudio empírico sobre la relación entre ciencia y religión en Tánger y Barcelona.

In recent decades there have been significant developments in assisted reproduction techniques, which have aided couples with difficulties in having children. These techniques have been well received in different parts of the world, and Muslim countries have been no exception. Adopting sociologist Michèle Lamont's theoretical perspective on "boundaries", semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 health professionals and Islamic community leaders in the cities of Tangier and Barcelona during 2022. The aim of this article is twofold: first, to analyze how key actors in the Muslim community conceive of the relationship between Islam and science; second, to explain how this understanding is negotiated in relation to assisted reproduction treatments. The article concludes with a consideration of the complexities related to drawing the line between the positions of science and religion, and emphasized the importance of examining empirical cases in order to better capture the complex relationship between these two spheres and gain a deeper understanding of existing bioethical debates.

En las últimas décadas hubo un desarrollo significativo de técnicas de reproducción asistida que ayudaron a parejas con dificultades a tener hijos. Estas técnicas han sido bien recibidas en diferentes partes del mundo, y los países musulmanes no han sido una excepción. Desde la perspectiva teórica de la socióloga Michèle Lamont basada en las fronteras o "boundaries", en el año 2022 se realizaron entrevistas semiestructuradas a 20 profesionales de la salud y líderes de asociaciones musulmanes de Tánger y Barcelona, con el objetivo de analizar, en primer lugar, cómo actores claves musulmanes conciben la relación entre islam y ciencia y; en segundo lugar, cómo se negocia esta comprensión en el caso de los tratamientos de reproducción asistida. Se concluye sobre la complejidad de la delimitación de fronteras en las definiciones de ciencia y religión, y se destaca la importancia de centrarse en casos empíricos para comprender mejor la compleja relación entre los dos ámbitos y entender los debates bioéticos existentes.

Vaccination Hesitancy Among Greek Orthodox Christians: Is There a Conflict Between Religion and Science?

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic vaccines were highly anticipated in order to help contain the spread of the virus and mitigate its impact. However, when the vaccination program began, some minorities were reluctant to get vaccinated for numerous reasons. Specifically, at that time in Greece many priests were opposed to getting vaccinated and proceeded to discourage their flock, in stark contrast to the decisions of Greek Orthodox religious leaders who endorsed the vaccination program. It is clear that the COVID-19 pandemic doesn't solely affect the health system but also other parts of society such as politics, the economy and, last but not least, religion and worship. In the current article, we aim to present the notions and attitudes that led many Greek Orthodox Christians to be hesitant about getting vaccinated or even to become a part of the movement actively against vaccination that has been growing during this pandemic.

Cognitive behavioral therapy for challenges to quitting tobacco smoking among social science and religion students.

BACKGROUND: Tobacco smoking is a public health issue. The aim of this investigation was to determine the effect of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) on the disputation of challenges to quitting tobacco smoking among students enrolled in the Social Science and religious Education programmes. METHODS: The study adopted a pretest-posttest randomized controlled group design with follow-up. The population comprised of 76 tobacco smokers (randomized into 1 of 2 groups: n = 38 for the treatment group, n = 38 for the waitlist control group) completed the study. A self-report scale measuring dependence on cigarettes was used as the outcome measure. The treatment group was exposed to a 12-weeks CBT intervention. The treatment and waitlisted groups were evaluated at 3 time points: pretest, post-test, and follow-up. Statistical analyses were achieved using ANOVA. RESULTS: The result showed that CBT had a significant effect in reducing the challenges to quitting tobacco smoking among the student smokers in the treatment group in comparison with the waitlist control group. The positive behavioral gains after the CBT program also persisted at follow-up in the treatment group compared with the waitlist control group. CONCLUSION: Therefore, this study suggests that CBT intervention is a time-effective treatment method for disputation of challenges to quitting tobacco smoking among students enrolled in the Social Science and Religious Education Programmes.

La búsqueda de la verdad: un punto de encuentro entre ciencia y religión. [Editorial] / The search for truth: Common ground between science and religion. [Editorial] / À procura da verdade: um ponto de encontro entre ciência e religião. [Editorial]

Aragón- Vargas, L.F. (2022). Editorial la búsqueda de la verdad: un punto de encuentro entre ciencia y religión. Pensar en Movimiento: Revista de Ciencias del Ejercicio y la Salud, 20(2), 1-17. Este editorial es una versión mejorada de la conferencia homónima presentada en el marco de la Cátedra de Estudio sobre Religiones, Escuela de Filosofía, Universidad de Costa Rica. Se comenta sobre la importancia de la verdad y se presenta un mensaje sobre el punto de encuentro entre ciencia y religión, en la misma línea de manuscritos y editoriales previos en esta revista sobre filosofía de la ciencia. Además, se insiste en una responsabilidad moral de las personas que nos dedicamos a la ciencia, la investigación y la academia en el contexto universitario: la responsabilidad de contribuir al conocimiento.

Aragón-Vargas, L.F. (2022). The search for truth: Common ground between science and religion Pensar en Movimiento: Revista de Ciencias del Ejercicio y la Salud, 20(2), 1-17. This editorial is an improved version of a lecture with the same name that was presented in the context of the Chair of Religious Studies, School of Philosophy, Universidad de Costa Rica. The importance of truth is highlighted, and a message is presented on the common ground shared by science and religion, along the same lines of previous articles and editorials published in this review on the philosophy of science. Furthermore, the editorial insists on the moral responsibility of those of us that are devoted to science, research and academia in a university milieu—the responsibility to contribute to knowledge.

Aragón-Vargas, L.F. (2022). À procura da verdade: um ponto de encontro entre ciência e religião. Pensar en Movimiento: Revista de Ciencias del Ejercicio y la Salud, 20(2), 1-17. Este editorial é uma versão melhorada da conferência homônima apresentada no cenário da Cátedra de Estudo sobre Religiões, Escola de Filosofia, Universidade da Costa Rica. Comenta-se sobre a importância da verdade e apresenta-se uma mensagem sobre o ponto de encontro entre ciência e religião, na mesma linha de manuscritos e editoriais prévios nesta revista sobre filosofia da ciência. Adicionalmente, enfatiza-se sobre uma responsabilidade moral das pessoas que nos dedicamos à ciência, à pesquisa e à faculdade no contexto universitário: a responsabilidade de contribuir para o conhecimento.

Varieties of Ignorance: Mystery and the Unknown in Science and Religion.

How and why does the moon cause the tides? How and why does God answer prayers? For many, the answer to the former question is unknown; the answer to the latter question is a mystery. Across three studies testing a largely Christian sample within the United States (N = 2524), we investigate attitudes toward ignorance and inquiry as a window onto scientific versus religious belief. In Experiment 1, we find that science and religion are associated with different forms of ignorance: scientific ignorance is typically expressed as a personal unknown ("it's unknown to me"), whereas religious ignorance is expressed as a universal mystery ("it's a mystery"), with scientific unknowns additionally regarded as more viable and valuable targets for inquiry. In Experiment 2, we show that these forms of ignorance are differentially associated with epistemic goals and norms: expressing ignorance in the form of "unknown" (vs. "mystery") more strongly signals epistemic values and achievements. Experiments 2 and 3 additionally show that ignorance is perceived to be a greater threat to science and scientific belief than to religion and religious belief. Together, these studies shed light on the psychological roles of scientific and religious belief in human cognition.

Espiritualidade no ensino em saúde: scoping review / Spirituality in health education: scoping review / Espiritualidad en la educación para la salud: revisión del alcance

Revisão de escopo com objetivo de mapear produções científicas sobre a espiritualidade no ensino em saúde. Utilizou-se o acrônimo População Conceito Contexto (PCC) - População para estudantes das graduações de saúde, Conceito para espiritualidade e religião e Contexto para ensino da saúde. Este estudo foi estruturado pelo PRISMA-Scr. Foram incluídos os artigos publicados em português, espanhol e inglês, de janeiro de 2010 a setembro 2020. Inicialmente identificou-se 798 artigos, dos quais 12 foram incluídos na revisão. Os principais resultados revelam um aumento das publicações entre 2013 e 2019 e apontam que dos 12 artigos incluídos no estudo, oito contêm propostas metodológicas de educação em saúde e espiritualidade, com busca por metodologias e estruturas mais apropriadas do ponto de vista pedagógico. Conclui-se que trazer a espiritualidade aos estudantes da saúde possibilita a autorreflexão e a capacitação do próprio docente.

Scoping review to map scientific productions on spirituality in health education. The acronym Population Concept Context (PCC) - Population for undergraduate health students, Concept for spirituality and religion, and Context for health teaching. This study was directed by PRISMA-Scr and included articles published in Portuguese, Spanish, and English from January 2010 to September 2020. The initial search identified 798 articles of which 12 were included in the review. The main results reveal an increase in publications between 2010 e 2019 and indicate that among the 12 articles included in the study, eight contain methodological proposals for health education and spirituality, with a search for more appropriate methodologies and structures from a pedagogical point of view. It is concluded that bringing spirituality to health students allows self-reflection and training for the professors themselves.

Revisión del alcance para mapear producciones científicas sobre la espiritualidad en la educación para la salud. Se utilizó el acrónimo Poblacion Concept Contexto (PCC) - Población para estudiantes de pregrado en salud, Concepto para espiritualidad y religión y Contexto para enseñanza en salud y fue estructurado por PRISMA-Scr. Se incluyeron artículos publicados en portugués, español e inglés desde enero de 2010 hasta septiembre de 2020. Se identificaron inicialmente 798 artículos, de los cuales 12 fueron incluidos en la revisión. Los principales resultados revelan un aumento de publicaciones entre 2013 y 2019. Los principales resultados indican que de los 12 artículos incluidos en el estudio, ocho contienen propuestas metodológicas para la educación en salud y espiritualidad, con una búsqueda de metodologías y estructuras más adecuadas desde el punto de vista pedagógico. Se concluye que acercar la espiritualidad a los estudiantes de salud permite la autorreflexión y la formación de los propios profesores.

Narratives and counter-narratives in religious responses to COVID-19: A computational text analysis.

Religious responses to COVID-19 as portrayed in a major news source raise the issue of conflict or cooperation between religious bodies and public health authorities. We compared articles in the New York Times relating to religion and COVID-19 with the COVID-19 statements posted on 63 faith-based organizations' web sites, and with the guidance documents published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) specifically for religious bodies. We used computational text analysis to identify and compare sentiments and topics in the three bodies of text. Sentiment analysis showed consistent positive values for faith-based organizations' texts throughout the period. The initial negative sentiment of religion-COVID-19 coverage in the New York Times rose over the period and eventually converged with the consistently positive sentiment of faith-based documents. In our topic modelling analysis, rank order and regression analysis showed that topic prevalence was similar in the faith-based and public health sources, and both showed statistically significant differences from the New York Times. We conclude that there is evidence of both narratives and counter-narratives, and that these showed demonstrable shifts over time. Text analysis of public documents shows alignment of the interests of public health and religious bodies, which can be discerned for the benefit of communities if parties are trusted and religious messages are consistent with public health communications.

The design stance, intentional stance, and teleological beliefs about biological and nonbiological natural entities.

Teleology involves an appeal to function to explain why things are the way they are. Among scientists and philosophers, teleological explanations are widely accepted for human-made artifacts and biological traits, yet controversial for biological and nonbiological natural entities. Prior research shows a positive relationship between religiosity and acceptance of such controversial teleological explanations. Across three large online studies, we show that the relationship between religiosity and teleological acceptance cannot be explained by acceptance of objectively false explanations. Furthermore, we show that anthropomorphism and a belief in supernatural agents each independently predict teleological acceptance. In contrast, the tendency to inhibit intuitively appealing, yet incorrect responses to simple reasoning problems was associated with lower teleological acceptance. These results provide strong support for an intention-based account of teleology, and further contribute to the existing literature which situates teleological reasoning within a dual-process framework. Several avenues of future research are discussed, including the need to dissociate implicit and explicit measures of teleological belief, and the need for a greater focus on cross-cultural variation in teleological beliefs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

CONTROVERSIES ON THE BEGINNING OF HUMAN LIFE - SCIENCE AND RELIGION CLOSER AND CLOSER.

One of the most controversial topics in modern bioethics, science, and philosophy is the beginning of individual human life. In the seemingly endless debate, strongly stimulated by recent technologic advances in human reproduction, a synthesis between scientific data and hypothesis, philosophical thought, and issues of humanities has become a necessity to deal with ethical, juridical, and social problems. Furthermore, in this field there is a temptation to ask science to choose between opinions and beliefs, which neutralize one another. The question of when human life begins requires the essential aid of different forms of knowledge. Here we become involved in the juncture between science and religion, which needs to be carefully explored. Modern bioethics and science are strongly concerned for the respect of human life at both ends of its existence (birth and death), but other sciences (eg. Philosophy, technology, psychology, sociology, law, and politics) consider the beginning of human life according to different points of view. However, bioethical topics like this one cannot be treated from only one perspective (eg. Biological, philosophical, or religious) because conclusions might be not good enough or reductive. This reality should be regarded in all its richness: An embryo gives a biologist and a geneticist substance for consideration, but because we are talking about the beginning of human life, it requires philosophical-anthropological consideration and confrontation with theology; in its protection we have to include ethics and law. In experiencing and investigating social behavior, other disciplines, such as the history of medicine and sociology, have to be included. It is hard to answer the question when human life should be legally protected. At the time of conception? At the time of implantation? At the time of birth? In all countries (except Ireland and Liechtenstein) juridical considerations are based on Roman law. Roman civil law says that the fetus has right when it is born or if it is born-nasciterus. Few countries agree with definition of beginning of human personality at the time of conception. The majority does not grant legal status to the human embryo in vitro (i.e., during the 14 days after fertilization). Thus, even in the absence of legal rights, there is no denying that the embryo constitutes the beginning of human life, a member of the human family. Therefore, whatever the attitude, every country has to examine which practices are compatible with the respect of that dignity and the security of human genetic material.The question when a human life begins and how to define it, could be answered only through the inner-connecting pathways of history, philosophy, medical science and religion. It has not been easy to determine where to draw the fine line between the competence of science and methaphysics in this delicate philosophical field. To a large extent the drawing of this line depends on one's fundamental philosophical outlook. The point at which human life begins will always be seen differently by different individuals, groups, cultures, and religious faiths. In democracy there are always at least two sides, and the center holds only when the majority realizes that without a minority democracy itself is lost. The minority in turn must realize its best chance lies in persuasion by reason and thoughtfulness rather than fanaticism.

Science, religion and state: a multidimensional perspective.

The SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) does not discriminate; it affects everyone regardless of beliefs, gender, nationality, skin color, and social class. A recent correspondence published in the Journal of Public Health proposed the 'collaboration of science and religion in COVID-19 vaccine promotion.' The said article was in response to a previously published correspondence, which proposed a multi-sectoral approach on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination hesitancy. This article further adds that science, religion and state are not mutually exclusive with each other. What this article, therefore, proposes is a multidimensional relationship of science, religion and state to promote the COVID-19 vaccine and other science-based findings to combat the public fear of the public on vaccine and virus.

Science and religion for COVID-19 vaccine promotion.

A recent correspondence published in this journal proposed a multi-sectoral approach on the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination hesitancy, whereas another proposed that religious leaders play a role in gaining the public's trust in COVID-19 vaccine. This article raises awareness that though religious leaders play a huge role in promoting the COVID-19 vaccine, they are still bound by the findings of science. What this article, therefore, proposes is the collaboration of science and religion in COVID-19 vaccine promotion.