Galileo before the Inquisition in Rome on the charge of "vehement suspicion of heresy", for his defence of the Copernican view that the earth revolves around the sun.

 Recent popular debates over the relationship between science and religion have too often degenerated into shouted polemics between religious fundamentalists and new atheists. Yet many of the really important historical, philosophical and theological questions call for more careful attention.

This conversation seeks to contribute to this goal, by exploring a range of questions, in particular:

• To what extent does modern science pose a challenge to belief in the existence of God?
• What does it mean to have ‘faith’ in an age of science?
• Can science satisfactorily address the ultimate questions of human existence, which have   traditionally remained within the domain of religion?
• Is religion of any use to science? Conversely, is science of any use to religion?

Map of nuclear-weapon-states

NPT(Nonproliferation Treaty)-recognised nuclear-weapon-states in blue; nuclear-weapon-states outside the NPT in red; former nuclear-weapon-states in green; nuclear-weapon-hosting states in dark blue; undeclared nuclear weapon states not shown (Israel). Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AA_map_of_states_possessing_nucl...

On January 19 2015, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists reset the Doomsday Clock to 3 minutes to midnight – a disturbing reminder of how close we are coming to the brink of human and planetary catastrophe.

The trigger for resetting the clock is the continuing failure of world leaders to deal with the dual threats to human existence posed by climate change, and by “global nuclear weapons modernizations and outsized nuclear weapons arsenals” in a context where “the disarmament process has ground to a halt” .

This forum explore possible ways out of this impasse, including a number of promising initiatives.