Double Helix: Informing the public about how science and religion are intertwined

Religion News Foundation seeks to partner with The John Templeton Foundation on a two-year reporting project that will analyze and illuminate for the public how science and religion intertwine to shine new light on the Big Questions of purpose and reality. This partnership will result in at least 40 original news and feature story packages produced by our Religion News Service, published at religionnews.com and distributed to more than 150 subscribing and partner news outlets for republication. Stories will investigate the spiritual, ethical and philosophical implications of today’s most talked about developments in science, such as artificial intelligence, robotics, genetic engineering, neuroscience, evolutionary biology, and deep-space exploration. We will also produce four ReligionLink source guides to enhance journalistic coverage of complex issues surrounding science and religion on such topics as religion's role in the search for extraterrestrial intelligent life, the religious and moral implications of artificial intelligence, neuroscience and religion, and animal faith. Each new resource will be directly distributed to more than 4,000 journalists and editors in the U.S. and abroad. We aim to challenge and to subvert the common news media trope that religion and science are forever in diametrical opposition. Our successful completion of this project will enhance Religion News Service's reporting on science and religion, raising the bar for other media outlets to improve their coverage while educating them how best to do so with the aid of ReligionLink source guides. This necessary improvement of mainstream media coverage will help our diverse readers and the general public better understand how science, religion, spirituality and belief impact notions of purpose and reality. This partnership is perfectly aligned with our mission to inform, illuminate and inspire public discourse on matters of faith and belief.