The Dispatch: More from CWR...

On tap at 2024 Society of Catholic Scientists convention: AI, evolution, and the nature of faith

Jonah McKeown By Jonah McKeown for CNA

Attendees at the 2019 Society of Catholic Scientists convention listen to a talk in South Bend, Indiana. (Image: Courtesy of Stephen Barr)

St. Louis, Mo., Jun 3, 2024 / 06:20 am (CNA).

What does the development of artificial intelligence say about the human soul? Do humans actually have free will? What leads scientific-minded people to convert to Christianity?

The Society of Catholic Scientists’ (SCS) annual convention, taking place June 7-9 at Mundelein Seminary northwest of Chicago, promises to tackle these questions and more.

Stephen Barr, a PhD physicist at the University of Delaware and founder of the group, told CNA that the group has grown to over 2,000 members worldwide since its founding in 2016, with its first annual conference taking place in 2017.

On the Society’s website, the organization describes itself as an answer to the call of Pope St. John Paul II that “members of the Church who are active scientists” be of service to those who are attempting to “integrate the worlds of science and religion in their own intellectual and spiritual lives.”

In addition to connecting members with opportunities and resources of common interest, the group has sought to provide educational resources to those outside its membership by providing on its website answers to common questions related to faith and science.

Five of the 13 scheduled talks at the upcoming SCS conference deal in some way with the topic of artificial intelligence, a hot subject both in the secular and Catholic worlds. The Vatican under Pope Francis has in recent years emphasized the ethical use of AI, while a number of Catholics around the world are working to develop new catechetical tools that make use of AI technology for the purposes of sharing the Catholic faith.

Karin Öberg, left, professor of astronomy at Harvard University, talks with fellow attendees at the 2019 Society of Catholic Scientists convention in South Bend, Indiana. Courtesy of Stephen Barr

Barr said one of the AI-related talks he is most excited for is one to be presented by Alexander Pruss, a philosopher and mathematician at Baylor University, on the topic of AI and human souls.

Dr. Stephen Barr, a physicist at the University of Delaware and president of the Society of Catholic Scientists, told CNA the organization has grown to over 2,000 members worldwide since its founding in 2016. Credit: Dr. Stephen Barr

Other highlights will include a talk by Martin Nowak, a renowned Harvard mathematical biologist, on the topic “Does Evolution Lead to God?” Suzanne Bohlson, a Professor of Biology at UC Irvine, will speak about how and why scientists convert to Christianity, and the nature of faith. Other presentations will focus on topics such as the existence of free will and the problem of evil.

The Catholic Church has long supported the sciences, sponsoring for centuries endeavors such as the Vatican Observatory and hosting conferences in recent years on scientific topics such as quantum physics.

Barr said despite the Church’s longstanding support for science, he still encounters the misconception that most scientists are atheists.

“Many ordinary people looking at science completely from the outside, they have a misconception that all scientists are atheists,” Barr observed. “I think they imagine that if you’re in science, you must be surrounded by hostile people, people hostile to religion. And that’s not really true…there’s a wide spectrum of attitudes, and the people who are hostile to it are really a small minority.”

Barr said despite the large numbers of scientists who are religious, many of them may feel they can’t share their faith openly in the scientific settings where they work.

“[R]eligious scientists tend to be a little quieter and maybe more cautious because they’re playing it safe…You keep your head down a little bit. Why invite trouble?” he said.

One of the main goals of the SCS annual conference, he said, is to be a place where Catholic scientists meet each other and have fellowship with each other, spiritually and intellectually.

“If you feel isolated, that makes you more reticent. And so what we want to do is break that vicious cycle and show the world and each other that there are a lot of religious scientists, particularly Catholic scientists. There are a lot of Catholic scientists out there.”

“I think our organization will help younger Catholics in science see that they’re actually quite a community, that they’re part of a very large community, and overcome their sense of isolation, make them more confident.”


If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!

Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.


About Catholic News Agency 12509 Articles
Catholic News Agency (www.catholicnewsagency.com)

9 Comments

  1. Free will cannot be demonstrated scientifically. Long reflexion on that question brought me to the conviction that its evidence is the ability to distinguish opposites, and to choose the opposite of what logic might suggest.
    Later, in my studies of Aquinas he confirmed the same. AI is incapable of this. From a spiritual perspective the direction that God may inspire us to take cannot be predictable in accord with logarithms and data input since as Job would say who knows the mind of the Lord. For example the gifts of the Holy Spirit inspiring acts that defy human logic, acts of charity and witness to truth that escape anything less than the divine intelligence. Man alone created in God’s image may reflect that intelligence.
    While AI has valuable uses, its danger is in rendering man a pawn who has traded in his soul for mammon. Hopefully the presence of Catholic scientists as Barr suggests will focus on avoiding that.

    • Additionally, Man’s freest acts are moral acts, acts exclusive to Man made in God’s image who alone apprehends the difference between good and evil. Free will is exemplified in choosing the good over evil, because the evil route is that in most cases the animal instinctively chooses.

  2. About free will, two comments:

    FIRST, super-scientist Albert Einstein rejected the necessary and larger notion that there’s even such a thing (!) as a personal God (citation below). Instead of, say, just a super-equation as Stephen Hawking later proposed, or maybe now AI, although partly housebroken to serve an evangelization mission…But, “Who rides on the back of a tiger can never dismount” (Chinese proverb).

    And, SECOND, from the interreligious perspective, fatalistic Islam (the true religion!) denies free will, but then explains that God allows us to think we have free will!

    Here’s the quote from Einstein:

    “The main source of the present-day conflicts between the spheres of religion and of science lies in the concept of a personal God [….] In their struggle for the ethical good [only this?], teachers of religion must have the stature to give up the doctrine of a personal God, that is, to give up that source of fear and hope which in the past placed such vast power in the hands of priests. In their labors they will have to avail themselves of those forces which are capable of cultivating the Good, the True, and the Beautiful in humanity itself [….] After religious teachers accomplish the refining process indicated they will surely recognize with joy that true religion [another true religion!] has been ennobled and made more profound by scientific knowledge” (Albert Einstein, “Science and Religion”, 1939, in “Out of My Later Years,” Philosophical Library, 1950).

    • No greater stupidity occurs than when one tries to prove superior intelligence. As an identifiable group, scientists are often as dumb as dumb gets. At their worst, their thought can be borderline sociopathic, and they’ll gravitate to any belief that enables them to retain condescending dismissals towards those possessing such things like simple faith. They are capable of being so stupid they cannot even exercise enough imagination to postulate a thought experiment long enough to consider that a personal God would not hold any special privileges or unique affinity for those of higher IQ, especially given the mountains of evidence that the greatest evils in this vale of tears world require the greatest levels of conceit and talent.

  3. What a blessing to the Church these Catholic scientists are. I’m aware of assemblies of Catholic artists and musicians, Catholic physicians and Catholic lawyers but I wonder if anyone has yet put together a list of various interest groups that come together to share ideas and experiences AS CATHOLICS.

    I’d venture to say that wherever Catholics assemble as Catholics on some common ground of interest or expertise, there is grace. We should encourage assemblies of Catholic small farmers and homesteaders. We should encourage assemblies of Catholic trades people, Catholics involved in commerce, Catholics involved in government at all levels. I’d like to see more self-identification as Catholics in areas beyond parish life.

  4. Fascinating website they have, just google their name and check it out. Their list of Catholic scientists is a long one and includes a biography of Blessed Nicolas Steno the polymath genius who enriched various fields of science but is primarily considered the founder of the science of geology. The biography is decent but could be much longer. He conceived the concept of Deep Time, one of the fundamental principals behind science ever since. He needs one more miracle to be declared a saint. (Hint,hint to anybody needing a miracle.) The society has many articles, including apologetics as well as news items. It is great new site for me to explore when I get bored with the same old thing.

  5. This organization is misnamed. It is not a society of scientists, but rather a society of academics who claim to be catholic scientists. It is a network of academics seeking to promote their careers. Real scientists outside of academia have not place in this organization. As such little real change can be expected of it. I write from personal experience.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

All comments posted at Catholic World Report are moderated. While vigorous debate is welcome and encouraged, please note that in the interest of maintaining a civilized and helpful level of discussion, comments containing obscene language or personal attacks—or those that are deemed by the editors to be needlessly combative or inflammatory—will not be published. Thank you.


*