Faith v science: Dan Brown 'Angels and Demons' style event takes place at Liverpool Cathedral

National World - LocalTV

Liverpool Cathedral is set to host a ground-breaking event as Accelerator physicists, particle physicists, and theologians come together for a thought-provoking panel discussion, ‘Beyond Boundaries: A Dialogue on Science and Faith’.

Transcript

00:00 Liverpool Cathedral has played host to a groundbreaking event, transcending traditional boundaries

00:08 as physicists and theologians have come together for a thought-provoking discussion.

00:14 When you look up into the night sky and you have to realise how tiny we are and at the

00:19 same time that there is this 95% of the universe where fundamentally we have no idea what's

00:25 going on. So we have concepts like dark energy, dark matter, but really at the end of the

00:30 day we do not have a full understanding of nature and that big question why is what drives

00:36 us every day and I think that's absolutely fascinating.

00:40 The event aims to explore the common ground between science, philosophy and religion.

00:45 This dialogue may conjure up parallels with Dan Brown's best-seller Angels and Demons.

00:50 Yeah, there are amazing parallels. I mean as I said I will talk about the antimatter

00:55 research we do at CERN as in the book and here I am in a cathedral, not St. Peter's

01:01 as they use in the book, but in Liverpool Cathedral and the environment is just fantastic

01:06 because this place just sparks questions and imagination and I think it's the ideal place

01:12 to talk about science and faith in parallel.

01:15 Sixth form students from schools and colleges across the region have been to the cathedral

01:19 to learn about the cutting-edge research and development in particle physics and accelerators,

01:25 aiming to inspire and encourage future generations to pursue careers in physics, engineering

01:31 and clinical sciences.

01:32 I think we see a lot of science in the news, but there's still a real challenge to get

01:38 younger people to go into scientific disciplines, to be career scientists, as indeed I am, as

01:44 indeed our colleagues here, all are career scientists and it's a wonderful career to

01:49 be in really. It's wonderful to be at that cutting edge of things, to find out more and

01:54 more in my field, to see how we apply that to patients. My particular field is cancer

02:00 therapy, how we can help them with diagnosing their disease earlier in order to actually

02:06 bring new treatments on board and make those more effective.

02:09 The panel members, each a distinguished figure in their respective fields, have been engaging

02:14 in conversation delving into the intersections of scientific inquiry and matters of faith.

02:20 It's how do we engage with science and our faith. For people like myself, and there are

02:26 many, many people like myself, we hold and complement our faith and our science together.

02:31 There aren't any difficulties in studying science, looking for that evidence.

02:36 To address the big questions that society face today, we have to work globally with

02:42 partners and friends all around the world, bring the best minds and skills together in

02:47 order to tackle these questions. I think that is just such a fascinating area.

02:52 The event marks a significant milestone in celebrating the cathedral's centenary since

02:58 its consecration as a place of worship in 1924.

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