Fifth Debate on Belief and Unbelief: Does Cognitive Science Undermine Religious Belief?

The Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California (ICCNC) will hold its fifth debate titled “Does cognitive science undermine religious belief?” on Saturday, February 24, 2024 at 10:00 AM (Los Angeles Time). Dr. Kelly James Clark and Dr. John Wathey will participate in the debate. Dr. Yaser Mirdamadi moderates this debate.

The purpose of these debates is to broaden and deepen the general public’s understanding of religion in the 21st century. The general theme of the debate series is Belief and Unbelief in a “Post-Secular Era.”

The debate will be live-streamed on Zoom and on ICCNC's YouTube Channel.

Biographies

r. Kelly James Clark, Ph.D. (University of Notre Dame), is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Ibn Haldun University in Istanbul. He previously taught at Grand Valley State University, Calvin University, and Gordon College. Kelly has held visiting appointments at Oxford University, the University of St. Andrews, and the University of Notre Dame. He is the author, editor, or co-author of more than thirty books, including Abraham's Children: Liberty and Tolerance in an Age of Religious Conflict, Religion and the Sciences of Origins, Return to Reason, The Story of Ethics, When Faith Is Not Enough, and 101 Key Philosophical Terms of Their Importance for Theology. Philosophers Who Believe won third place in Christianity Today's books of the year.

Dr. John Wathey is a retired computational biologist whose interests include evolutionary algorithms, the biology of nervous systems, and the biological roots of religion. He got his PhD from the Department of Neurosciences at the University of California, San Diego, and spent most of his career working on computer simulations of protein folding. His first book, The Illusion of God’s Presence, explores the evolution of the emotions and intuitions behind religious belief, emphasizing behavioral and psychological research. His latest book is The Phantom God: What Neuroscience Reveals about the Compulsion to Believe. It relates the motivating forces behind religiousness to the neural circuitry of embodiment, mother-infant attachment, adult sexual pair-bonding, addiction, selective attention, hallucinations, and many other neurological surprises.

Dr. Yaser Mirdamadi is a researcher in medical ethics at the Institute of Ismaili Studies, London. In 2019, he received Ph.D. in Islamic and Middle East Studies from the University of Edinborough. He has a MA in Muslim Cultures from Aga Khan University, Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilizations (AKU-ISMC) London, UK, and a MA in Islamic Theology from Ferdowsi University Mashhad, Iran.

Also, Dr. Mirdamadi completed a Level 3 Diploma (equivalent to a Master’s degree) in Classical Islamic studies from Hawza Ilmiyya (Islamic Seminary), Mashhad, Iran.