The Baha'i Faith: science, religion and social development
Since World War II, international organizations, aid agencies and NGOs have built a global infrastructure of discourses and practices to assist the “development” of Third World countries. These approaches have tended to promote the application of scientific approaches to the material development of societies. In the past few decades, there has been an increasing sense among development actors that the spiritual and religious dimensions of life have been ignored by these approaches. In this session, we will consider a new type of dialogue between science and religion that has emerged, that explores how scientific and religious principles can be combined in the practical work of development organizations and community building.
PPT
Required reading
Lample, Paul. “In Pursuit of Harmony between Science and Religion,” Journal of Baha’i Studies 26:4 (2016): pp. 23-58.