Level I . Tier I
Religion & Science
Reasons for Conflict and Pre-conditions for Dialogue
Organized by Arisbe Education Foundation, USA
Instructors
Dr. Basit Bilal Koshul
location
McLean Islamic Center, 8800 Jarrett Valley Dr, Vienna, Virginia, United States
schedule
Times are in EST
04
Aug

5 PM - 9 PM

05
Aug

10 AM - 6 PM

06
Aug

10 AM - 4 PM

The distress of sensitive minds, and the zeal for truth, and the sense of the importance of the issues, must command our sincerest sympathy. When we consider what religion is for mankind, and what science is, it is no exaggeration to say that the future course of history depends upon the decision of this generation as to the relations between them. We have here the two strongest general forces (apart from the mere impulse of the various senses) which influence men, and they seem to be set one against the other — the force of our religious intuitions, and the force of our impulse to accurate observation and logical deduction.
-Alfred North Whitehead, 1925
Abstract
A bird’s eye view of history shows that the tension between religion and science is almost as old as humanity itself—as are the attempts to resolve it. Using first-hand autobiographical accounts, this workshop will examine the perennial issues that characterize the encounter between religion and science. The workshop will go on to explore some of the very promising (but neglected) responses to this conflict in modern times. A close study of these responses will show that; a) they deeply engage with the wisdom of tradition in the attempt to understand and respond to the contemporary manifestation of this age-old problem, b) they see the contemporary religion-science conflict to be inseparable from the crisis within modern science, and c) they recognize the uniquely modern features of this perennial conflict that demand creative thinking and novel ideas. The goal of the workshop is to help the students identify (and avoid) the red herrings, cul-de-sacs, and dead ends that often characterize the religion-science discussions—while at the same time opening up new avenues, sources, and resources that enrich the discussion and move it in a constructive direction. This is a 3-5 day workshop in which students study primary texts of important thinkers such as Imam Ghazali, Abdul Majid Daryabadi, Moses Maimonides, John Dewey, Christian Smith, Peter Berger, and Muhammad Rafiuddin. These texts familiarize the students with the ideas and terminology of perennial questions in intellectual history and their modern day manifestation—especially as it relates to the relationship between religion, philosophy and science. 
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Abstract
The interaction between religion and science (and philosophy acting as intermediary) has a very long history. For the most part there has been a healthy tension between the two and the relationship between religion and science has been characterized by mutual tolerance (and sometimes mutual respect). But in modern times there has been a radical shift—where the tension goes beyond the breaking point and the religion-science relationship comes to be described in terms like “warfare” and “conflict.” This workshop will be an introductory exercise for students interested in studying the dynamics and trajectory of this shift in greater depth.

The goals of the workshop are to:

1. Familiarize students with the ideas and terminology of the issues that havebeen at the center of the religion-science discussion in the past and their modern day manifestation.
2. Help students avoid the red herrings, cul-de-sacs, and dead ends that often characterize the religion-science discussion.
3. Identify the logic at the root of the shift from a healthy tension to “conflict”/ “warfare,” and the resources in modern philosophy that offer an alternate logic.
4. Prepare students to engage with the ideas of (often neglected) thinkers whose work moves the discussion in a productive and constructive direction.
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Abstract
This workshop equips the students with the conceptual tools that will help them better understand the difference between the logic of fundamentalism and the logic of relations. This understanding will provide the analytical tools and the conceptual language for students to better understand and articulate the core issues surrounding the religion-science discussions. This enhanced communicability in turn will opens the door for students to systematically move from conflict-independence to dialogue-integration conception of religion-science relationship. These conceptual tools are introduced to the students through systematic readings of Peirce’s essays on philosophy, logic, semeiotics, and phenomenology and each reading reveals unique dimensions of the two logics and the difference between them. 
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Abstract
The focal text of this 5 day in-residence workshop is Allama Muhammad Iqbal’s Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, which builds upon the technical concepts provided by the works of John Dewey and Charles Sanders Peirce. Using the tools acquired from Level II workshop, students go on to explore how these conceptual tools and methods enable a more systematic study of Iqbal’s text and how it enriches the resources for Islamic Theology to answer the clarion call of Iqbal for the much-needed work of reconstruction of religious thought in Islam.
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