Illustration by Steve Thomason
Impact of Moral Foundations upon Religion and Science
Kirk Weisbrod
Current events indicate that perspectives are becoming more fragmented in politics, science and religion. Recent studies in social psychology, which included over 30,000 interviews, indicate that intuition (emotions) responds first and our reasoning follows, generally in support of our intuition. We’ll explore these findings and a set of ensuing moral foundations by examining several topics addressing faith and science.
Dr. Kirk Weisbrod grew up in Southern Illinois and Texas, the Bible Belt. His theistic father, a physicist, and charismatic Christian mother attended a fundamental Methodist church. Kirk questioned everything. (Based upon his doubt, he was sure Hell would be his next stop.) After a B.S. from U.T. Austin, Kirk earned an MS and PhD from the University of Illinois (Champaign/Urbana) in Chemical Engineering. He worked for 10 years at petroleum and minerals research centers before joining Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1992. Kirk helped develop fuel cells for powering automobiles. Subsequently, He designed and helped implement new processes for conversion of plutonium pits into nuclear fuel. Based upon fundamental mathematical models, system designs were optimized and predictions were made for complex systems. Today, evolutionary processes, in life and the universe, continue to inspire understanding as it relates to faith.
