Life, death issues
A metro-area church invites the community to a science and faith discussion on issues of life and death.
Abortion.
Euthanasia.
Death penalty.
Oh my!
These hot-button topics are often considered “unmentionable” in polite conversation.
However, a metro-area church hopes to draw the community into a civil discussion about these often contentious subjects.
Oklahoma City First Church of the Nazarene will host “Life & Death: Science and Theology in Conversation” from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Sunday at Putnam City High School auditorium, 5300 NW 50.
The event will feature a panel discussion with Christian author and activist Shane Claiborne, author of books “Jesus for President” and “The Irresistible Revolution”; Dr. Katie Smith, a metro-area gynecologist who has a blog called “Gynecology & Theology”; and the Rev. Steve Green, associate professor and chair of the school of theology and ministry at Southern Nazarene University. Green is also a former pastor of Oklahoma City First Church of the Nazarene.
The Rev. Aaron Bolarjack, the church’s executive pastor, said the event is part of the church’s Two Windows series of forums on faith and science. Church leaders have said they came up with the project’s title because faith and science are the two windows that people use to see the world.
Each of the forums are designed to help the community have a civil discourse about topics that often draw a wide range of passionate opinions.
“We’re not trying to start any fights or be controversial, but we do want to talk about things that people are interested in and people want to talk about, and hopefully will keep talking about even after the discussion is over,” Bolarjack said.
Bolarjack said he expects subjects like abortion, war, euthanasia and the death penalty to come up in the “Life & Death” forum. He said the fear of death and how it motivates the way people live also may be a matter of discussion.
The minister said the church has tried to have each panel discussion include at least one writer or pastoral theologian, someone who is interested and trained in theology but not just from an academic perspective. He said Claiborne, who has a degree in Christian theology but also is a writer of books on a variety of topics, with the most recent about the death penalty — “Executing Grace: How the Death Penalty Killed Jesus and Why It’s Killing Us.”
Bolarjack said they also try to have at least one scientist, and Dr. Smith will fill that role at the coming forum. He said each forum panel also includes one academic theologian with advanced degrees in theology who teaches at the college level. Green is the person church leaders chose for Sunday’s forum.
“That’s always the balance we’re trying to strike,” Bolarjack said.
Although most of the Two Windows forums have been free, at least two of them required an admission fee. Bolarjack said there is a cost to attend Sunday’s event to help defray the cost of bringing in a major speaker.
Previous forums in the series have explored such topics as human sexuality, creation and evolution, “hate or hospitality” focusing on eradicating stereotypes and combating bigotry and religious intolerance.