Is your church actively discussing race? Or is it hard for your congregation to start such a conversation? Science for the Church, a ministry that seeks to help congregations engage science, has found that considering race through the lens of science enhances conversations both new and ongoing.

Science, like the church, is facing a reckoning as it comes to grips with scientific racism past and present. The human sciences – biology and psychology – are shedding light on what race is and how it impacts us, body and mind. The range of fields connected to medicine are learning the complicated and often ugly relationship between race and health. These are just a few of the ways science can inform and improve the conversation our churches have about race.

We invite the presbyteries, clergy, and other church leaders in the Synod of the Covenant to join Science for the Church virtually over consecutive Wednesdays, beginning February 16 in a program that will introduce the following:

• Race as a social construct, not a biological category of Homo sapiens.
• How the social construct of race does impact both our biology (mind and body) and behavior.
• The impact of racism on health, particularly for persons of color.
• Science’s troubled history, past and present, around race (e.g., eugenics).

Program leaders include the Science for the Church team – Drew Rick-Miller, Edgardo Rosado, and Greg Cootsona – and at least one scientist actively researching one of the above topics. All registrants will receive a bibliography of science-related resources on race (articles, books, videos, podcasts) as well as the opportunity to receive Science for the Church’s weekly newsletter.