Kaufman Interfaith Institute receives grant to bridge gap between science and religion

The John Templeton Foundation awarded the Kaufman Interfaith Institute at Grand Valley State University a grant of $938,975 to conduct a project based on how religion is impacted by science.

 

The money will largely be spent on organizing workshops and paying participants for their work in the project. Kelly Clark, senior research fellow at the Kaufman Interfaith Institute, said the project consists of professors, philosophers, physicists and biologists, all of whom identify with Judaism, Christianity or Islam.

 

He said participants come from a variety of different countries and will work together and discuss matters related to interfaith cooperation and how to encourage “scientific inquiry among Abrahamic believers.” The project will take place over two years and in many different countries, eventually concluding in a conference in Istanbul.

 

After the project is completed, Clark said the institute is counting on two books to be published, a video and numerous scholarly articles to be created about the project.

 

The grant is the largest the institute has received in its six years of existence. Clark said the institute typically receives one to two grants a year in the $50,000 range, and this grant is a “quantum leap forward” from what they typically expect.

 

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