Science for Ministry in Poland

The diagnosis of the current state of the dialogue between science and religion in Poland is that there is not enough interest in the issues involved, and hence the discussions – if carried out at all – are mostly superficial. Thus, the two main and interconnected goals of the proposed project are: (a) to generate interest in the issue of science & religion, both among Polish clergy and laity, and (b) to give the clergy and religion teachers some tools for introducing the issue of science & religion in the classroom and among parishioners. Therefore, our target groups will be priests, seminaries’ students and religion teachers, but also general public. Our strategy is to combine initiatives which aim at introducing the science and religion problematics to the mainstream media and public discourse, with dedicated actions that would provide priests and religion teachers with institutional and intellectual framework necessary to discuss science and religion in a responsible way. We propose to realize these goals through five action-clusters: (1) publication of books, mini-e-books and textbooks on science and religion; (2) launching an innovative Science & Religion e-University; (3) further development of the existing science & religion internet portal; (4) organization of specialized courses in science and religion for primary- and secondary-level students, as well as seminaries students; and (5) the organization of an innovative Science & Religion Festival. We believe that, considering their recent organization success, Copernicus Center and the Copernicus Center Foundation have the capacity to carry out the proposed project, in particular given their large network of collaborating institutions. We also believe that the project shall have significant enduring impact, changing the Polish intellectual landscape in an important way.