• Science and Spirituality
• CSI: MTSU

1. MTSU is diving into the age-old battle between research and faith. The new Mobius Center for Science & Spirituality at the university is designed to promote dialogue about the two worlds, which philosophers say are not as much in conflict as they seem. Rabbi Rami Shapiro, an MTSU instructor, says we can learn from both areas of knowledge.

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Shapiro says science and religion are two different languages exploring the same reality, and they are at odds with one another only when presented through absolutist viewpoints. Students will be able to explore the subject next month in a course titled "The God of Science and the Science of God.";

2. Abortion, euthanasia, stem cell research, evolution—all these issues pit certain religious viewpoints against the fact-based discipline of science. But an MTSU philosophy professor, Rabbi Rami Shapiro, says there's another way of looking at the relationship between science and God.

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Shapiro is involved with the new Mobius Center for Science & Spirituality, which is funded partially by MTSU. Its purpose is to discuss what it means to be human in the 21st century through both disciplines. Shapiro says we limit ourselves when we negate the transcendent by adhering to a strictly scientific view of consciousness and when we stop thinking metaphorically in discussing our faith.

3. The conflict between science and religion is as old as the demand for material evidence that God exists. MTSU is jumping into the fray with the Mobius Center for Science & Spirituality, which aims to stimulate a civil dialogue about how the two realms of thought can co-exist. Rabbi Rami Shapiro, an MTSU philosophy instructor, says society got into this mess through a rather elitist mentality.

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But Shapiro says there's some religious elitism contributing to the friction, as well. He says many of today's religious leaders show a lack of imagination and a failure to appreciate the power of metaphor by trying to turn religion into pseudoscience. In the spring semester, MTSU students will be able to tackle the subject for themselves in a course titled "The God of Science and the Science of God.";

4. The Mobius Center for Science & Spirituality is MTSU's latest attempt to delve more deeply into intellectual issues that are relevant to our everyday lives. Through the new center, scholars and students will examine why we sometimes bring science and faith into conflict. Rabbi Rami Shapiro, an MTSU instructor, says when science began to catch up with certain religious claims, religious leaders circled the wagons and began to adopt the framework of science.

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Shapiro says the wave of the future in such discussions might be the belief that everything is a manifestation of God. Therefore, science studies God in His physical manifestation, psychology studies Him in his emotional manifestation, et cetera. In a course to be offered at MTSU next semester, students will learn how God has been envisioned over the centuries and how God has been challenged with the advent of the scientific method.

5. MTSU is now only the second college in the state to form its own forensic anthropology search and recovery team. Students, with the cooperation of local law enforcement, visit crime scenes and do their own examinations of the evidence. Their guide is Dr. Hugh Berryman, a research professor who performs skeletal analysis for the state medical examiner's office.

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Berryman says the students' classwork has more connection with their field work than is the case with some other academic disciplines. He also notes that this unique experience will give the students a leg up on the competition when trying to get into graduate school.

6. The intrepid scientists of the television program "CSI"; bear little professional resemblance to real criminalists. That's the consensus of some MTSU students who belong to the school's forensic anthropology search and recovery team, only the second university-based group of its kind in the state. One team member, Jennifer Ledford says she doesn't really work the way Gil Grissom and Catherine Willows do on TV.

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The students are operating under the direction of Dr. Hugh Berryman, a research professor who frequently is called upon to testify in criminal trials. He says law enforcement agencies, including the TBI, have been very supportive of giving the students the opportunity to examine real crime scenes.

7. Forensic anthropology students at MTSU now have the chance to gain valuable experience at real crime scenes. The new search and recovery team formed under the guidance of Dr. Hugh Berryman is only the second one of its kind in the state. Berryman says his profession puts the lie to the old bromide "dead men tell no tales.";

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While he admits that TV shows like "CSI"; have stimulated interest in the profession among high school students, Berryman emphasizes that the job entails hard work and serious attention to detail.

8. While the cast of "CSI"; might have half of the evidence they've gathered analyzed before the third commercial break, real crime scene investigators have a much more painstaking job to do. Students at MTSU now have a unique opportunity to learn what it's really all about as part of the new forensic anthropology search and recovery team. Berryman says dead men really DO tell tales, but his students have to concentrate on their work to get the whole story.

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Berryman says the response and level of cooperation from law enforcement agencies, including the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, has been encouraging. The team has worked on only one case so far, but Berryman says he hopes to have something new for the students each month.

9. MTSU students can now do their own crime scene investigations through the new forensic anthropology search and recovery team formed under the guidance of Dr. Hugh Berryman. A research professor who often testifies in criminal trials, Berryman takes the students to real crime scenes, where they observe the professionals in action and gather their own evidence. Student Barrett Gobelet (GOH-be-lay) says Berryman's main advice to the students is to keep their mouths shut and their eyes open.

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The team is only the second such university-supported group in the state. Berryman says the concept was "an easy sell"; to law enforcement agencies, who have been very supportive of the project.