We’ve written posts on our blog about cognitive biases — short cuts our brains take to be more efficient — but did you know scientists have documented just short of 200 different biases? You can take a look at them in this amazing graphic, or dive deeper by reading about them on wikipedia.
Leading a church already had its own set of challenges. Add 18 months of pandemic, social upheaval, and political unrest, and it is indeed overwhelming. Part of what makes it so difficult is that both pastors and their congregations are overwhelmed and worn out. The data on depression and mental health bear this out. Our collective mental health is not good.
The emotion of awe can be a bridge between science and faith. Just as worship can bring us to our knees, so can our experience of the natural world that science reveals to us. In recent years, awe has become a subject of scientific study and psychologists are beginning to understand the impact it has on us.
The Ciencia, Fe y Esperanza (i.e., Science, Faith, and Hope) project addresses the disconnection between faith and science in the Latinx community with the intent of creating a safe space for dialogue, providing education, and encouraging young people to see STEM careers as vocational callings.
Matters of choice, responsibility, and free will have entranced and entangled philosophers, theologians, and scientists for millennia. These questions cut to the heart of what it means to be human, and at times to the very nature of reality itself. So what do we know about it?