IMAP, North America – The International Media Association for Peace (IMAP) hosted a webinar on July 23, 2024, exploring what new developments in science teach about God, the nature of consciousness and the afterlife. Mass media plays an increasingly prominent role in discussions of faith and belief, and IMAP proposes that media take the lead in promoting research breakthroughs on the intersection of science and spirituality.
The panelists were Dr. Kathy Winings, vice president of the International Relief Friendship Foundation and president of Educare, and Dr. Dinshaw Dadachanji, research director at the Hyo Jeong International Foundation for Environmental Peace. The moderator was Mr. Pierre Beauregard, IMAP-Canada coordinator.
Dr. Winings shared her journey through science and spirituality, focusing on her experiences and insights gained from the study of neuroscience. She described how her perspective shifted from a more academic, cognitive approach to a deeper understanding of the intricate relationship between the brain, body, and consciousness. She also highlighted the significance of neuroscience in explaining the world from both a physical and internal, intentional design perspective. Kathy noted the rapid development of neuroscience since 2005, with a particular trend towards an increased focus on the field since 2014.
Dr. Winings shared how her near-death experience in 2021 and the subsequent conversations she's had have led her to a deeper understanding of the interconnectedness between science, spirituality and love. She emphasized that her perspective on life has been transformed by this realization, and it has influenced her approach to peer reviewing scientific papers.
Our second speaker, Dr. Dadachanji, has organized two series of conferences: the International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences (ICUS) and the International Conference on Science and God (ICSG).
Dr. Dadachanji discussed the relationship between science and religion, arguing that they are not inherently incompatible. He defined science as any system of knowledge concerned with the physical world and emphasized that scientific materialism, while a dominant worldview, is not the only valid one. He also introduced the concept of frontier science, which proposes a new paradigm that consciousness is more fundamental than matter and that minds can affect objects at a distance. He suggested that a second revolution, a revolution of the heart, is needed to complement this scientific revolution.
For more information on this program, watch the video of this webinar.
