Barney Leith

Author's details

Name: Barney Leith
Date registered: January 31, 2011

Latest posts

  1. Science, religion & a dispassionate search for knowledge — April 17, 2011
  2. Barney Leith Blog #10b: Science, Religion and Human Reality — March 20, 2011
  3. Barney Leith Blog #10a: Science, Religion and Human Reality — March 13, 2011
  4. Barney Leith Blog #9b: Chaplaincy: A Meeting Point for Religion and Science? — February 27, 2011
  5. Barney Leith Blog #9a: Chaplaincy: A Meeting Point for Religion and Science? — February 21, 2011

Most commented posts

  1. Barney Leith Blog #10b: Science, Religion and Human Reality — 18 comments
  2. Barney Leith Blog #9a: Chaplaincy: A Meeting Point for Religion and Science? — 7 comments
  3. Guest Blog: Barney Leith on Bohmian Dialogue and Bahá’í Consultation — 6 comments
  4. Barney Leith Blog #3: “Science and Religion Both Require a Humble Attitude of learning” — 5 comments
  5. Science, religion & a dispassionate search for knowledge — 2 comments

Author's posts listings

Apr 17

Science, religion & a dispassionate search for knowledge

by

Martin Rees

The tone of the recent attacks (see here and here) on Martin Rees, the Astronomer Royal for having accepted the Templeton Prize might seem to indicate a certain lack of detachment on the part of those who are disparaging the eminent theoretical astrophysicist. In comments made last year, Richard Dawkins referred to Lord Rees, an …

Continue reading »


2 comments

Mar 20

Barney Leith Blog #10b: Science, Religion and Human Reality

by

Abraham Joshua Heschel

This is the second of a two part series on human reality. Neuroscience – the latest fashion What’s fashionable now? How about neuroscience? Brain-scanning technology is now advanced enough to allow scientists to observe changes in blood flow to different parts of the brain under varying conditions. So it would be rather easy to suppose …

Continue reading »


18 comments

Mar 13

Barney Leith Blog #10a: Science, Religion and Human Reality

by

Automata in the Swiss Museum CIMA

This is the first of a two part series on human reality. Exeter, October 1966, and my first lecture in the introduction to psychology course. I’d just started my first undergraduate year at Exeter University and I’d managed to locate the premises of the psychology department, which were, for some reason, down in the town …

Continue reading »


Leave comment

Feb 27

Barney Leith Blog #9b: Chaplaincy: A Meeting Point for Religion and Science?

by

Healthcare Chaplaincy

This is the 2nd and final part of a two part series on chaplaincy. Last week I began to look at chaplaincy in the UK’s publicly funded National Health Service (NHS) as a profession that brings religion and science together in particularly interesting and challenging ways. The NHS requires the treatments it offers to be …

Continue reading »


Leave comment

Feb 21

Barney Leith Blog #9a: Chaplaincy: A Meeting Point for Religion and Science?

by

Can the efficacy of a profession that focuses on spiritual care be measured in any way? I have a particular interest in one such profession, that of healthcare chaplain. I should say at this point that I am not, and never have been, a chaplain. However, I have represented the UK Bahá’í community’s governing body, …

Continue reading »


7 comments

Feb 14

Barney Leith Blog #8: Diversity or Unity or Both?

by

David Cameron, Prime Minister of the UK

For some years I chaired a public policy group called the Religion and Belief Consultative Group on Equality, Diversity and Human Rights (RBCG). The group comprised representatives of the major churches and non-Christian faiths, the Inter Faith Network for the UK (IFN), a few faith-based social action organisations, and two atheist organisations – the British …

Continue reading »


Leave comment

Feb 06

Barney Leith Blog #7b: “Explaining Near Death Experiences – Should Science & Religion Cooperate?”

by

Mirza Ali Kuli Khan

The modern tradition of equating death with an ensuing nothingness can be abandoned. For there is no reason to believe that human death severs the quality of the oneness in the universe. – Larry Dossey, MD … continued from last week … Stirring up the angular gyrus Out-of-body experiences (OBE) are distinct from NDEs, although …

Continue reading »


2 comments

Jan 30

Barney Leith Blog #7a: “Explaining Near Death Experiences – Should Science & Religion Cooperate?”

by

Ascent of the Blessed

The modern tradition of equating death with an ensuing nothingness can be abandoned. For there is no reason to believe that human death severs the quality of the oneness in the universe. – Larry Dossey, MD “Dad, I had a dream last night.” I was driving my thirteen-year-old son home from school sometime in the …

Continue reading »


Leave comment

Jan 23

Barney Leith Blog #6: “The Religion and Science of Compassion”

by

Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life

Are we ineluctably selfish, as the excesses of the consumer culture and the brouhaha over bankers’ bonuses suggest? Are the neo-Darwinists and positivists, such as Richard Dawkins, correct in claiming that competitiveness and conflict are fundamental and ineradicable drivers of human behaviour? Does science “prove” that we humans are always selfish even when we are …

Continue reading »


2 comments

Jan 16

Barney Leith Blog #5: “The Role of Doubt & Questioning in Science & Religion”

by

Jacob Bronowski

I beseech in you, the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken With these words mathematician Jacob Bronowski concluded the 11th part – on the theme of “Knowledge or Certainty” – of his momentous 1970s BBC TV series, The Ascent of Man, with this quote from a letter Oliver Cromwell wrote to …

Continue reading »


Leave comment

Older posts «