In the 60 years since IRAS was founded, and the 50 years since Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science started, science has developed enormously. More important, though less obvious, the character of religion has changed, at least in Western countries. Church membership has gone down considerably. This is not due to arguments, for example, about science and atheism, but reflects a change in sources of authority. Rather than the traditional and communal authority, an individualism that emphasizes “authenticity” characterizes religion and (...) spirituality in our time. Less extensive but similar is the loss of authority with respect to science. As a consequence, “religion and science” might seek to provide attractive constructive proposals for visions that integrate an ethos and a worldview. IRAS might contribute by providing a platform for information and the exchange of proposals for a particular audience, while Zygon serves a global and diverse audience with well-researched articles. (shrink)

The advancements of medical technology incited multi-disciplinary discussions with regard to its ethical implications. Within the neuroscientific domain, the term ‘neuroethics’ has gained prominence over recent years. However, the contributions of religious perspectives in the nascent field of neuroethics are particularly few. The scarce literature on Islamic perspectives on neuroethics merely questioned its importance and introduced a sharia-based framework that can be implemented. Building upon this, the possible trajectories of Islamic perspectives on neuroethics can be mapped out by tapping into (...) several issues within Islamic bioethics, such as cloning and genomics. Topics such as these are deliberated through the collective discussions by contemporary Muslim scholars and biomedical scientists, thus producing well-informed dialogues and decisions. Building upon these may assist in developing further the Islamic perspectives on issues within neuroethics. This lays the groundwork for all the stakeholders involved in advance, in order to predict and prevent potential harms and challenges. (shrink)