Wednesday I attended the Becker/Rose cafe. This week Gregory Sloan was the main speaker and he offered some interesting insight to how astronomy and religion have interacted over time. As someone who studies plants, it is not very often that our research or theories come in conflict with religious views. Except for maybe genetically modified foods. So it was very interesting to hear the perspectives that were presented.

I thought this was a very interesting talk, even though I thought I would be hearing a lot more about Galileo and his trial. However, our speaker offered a lot of views on how religion and science haven’t always been arguing and how in many cases there are simply misunderstandings. One thing I found interesting is the change in funding for education and science. Back in Galileo’s time, the church provided most the funding for research and education. Where as now, much funding comes from private sources or the government. So back then, almost no research that would contradict the church was conducted, and nowadays, our research is so varied that there is always something going on that isn’t received very well. It is interesting to hear about the differences between then and now.

Overall I thought our guest was a very good speaker and he gave a very interesting talk. I wish it hadn’t been during prelim season.