Washington National Cathedral

Sunday, September 20, Dean Sam Lloyd and National Public Radio religion correspondent Barbara Bradley Hagerty begin the third season of Washington National Cathedral’s Sunday Forum when they look at what science says about spirituality and talk about whether people are “hard-wired” for God.

Following the discussion, Hagerty will sign copies of her new book, Fingerprints of God: The Search for the Science of Spirituality.

On most Sunday mornings, Dean Lloyd and celebrated guests publicly discuss critical issues of the times at Washington National Cathedral. The 50-minute conversations examine the intersection of faith and public life, and include questions from live and online audiences. The Sunday Forum is held between morning services in the main part of the Cathedral, beginning at 10:10 am.

As a church for national purposes, Washington National Cathedral welcomes everyone to participate in the Sunday Forum. Dean Lloyd guides the discussion through an in-depth understanding of the issues and illuminates the relevance in everyday life.

The Sunday Forum is free, open to the public, and webcast live at www.nationalcathedral.org. Complimentary parking is offered in the underground parking garage, accessed from Wisconsin Avenue.

Scheduled guest and discussion topics for fall 2009 include:

• September 20, What Can Science Tell Us about God? with Barbara Bradley Hagerty, NPR religion correspondent and author of the recently published book Fingerprints of God: The Search for the Science of Spirituality (book signing follows).
• September 27, The Economic Crisis: In God We Trust? with David Miller, director of Princeton University’s Faith & Work Initiative and president of the Avodah Institute which helps business leaders integrate the claims of faith with the demands of the workplace. He is author of God at Work: The History and Promise of the Faith at Work Movement (book signing follows).
• October 4, The World is Blue: Why Saving the Oceans Will Also Save Us with Sylvia Earle, marine biologist and explorer-in-residence at the National Geographic Society. Earle has pioneered research on marine ecosystems and led more than 70 expeditions. Time magazine named her a “hero for the planet” in 1998. Earle’s newest book, The World is Blue: How Our Fate and the Ocean’s Are One, is due out in September (book signing follows).
• October 11, What Does Religion Really Mean Today? with Karen Armstrong, scholar of comparative religions and winner of a 2008 Technology, Entertainment, Design award for her interfaith work in support of global understanding. Known for the New York Times best-seller A History of God, her latest book is The Case for God (book signing follows).
• October 18, Are We Our Brother’s Keeper? Fighting Disease and Poverty around the World with Ed Scott, founder and chairman of the Center for Interfaith Action on Global Poverty (CIFA) and co-founder of the Center for Global Development, a Washington-based think tank, and DATA (now ONE), which he co-founded with Bill Gates and George Soros. A former high-tech entrepreneur, Scott’s philanthropic efforts extend around the world.
• October 25, What Christians Need to Know About Islam with Yahya Hendi, Muslim chaplain at Georgetown University and at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, and Imam of the Islamic Society of Frederick, Md. Hendi has appeared on numerous television and radio programs and written widely on topics including women and gender in Islam, biomedical ethics, and interfaith relations in the United States.
• November 15, The Faith of a Columnist with David Ignatius, award-winning columnist for the Washington Post, writing on global politics, economics, and international affairs. He is also creator and co-moderator of Post-Global, an online conversation about international affairs at washingtonpost.com. In addition to his work as a columnist, Ignatius is the author of seven novels—The Increment, Body of Lies, The Sun King, A Firing Offense, The Bank of Fear, SIRO, and Agents of Innocence (book signing follows).
• November 22, A Time to Dance: Building Community with Liz Lerman, choreographer, performer, writer, educator, and founding artistic director of the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange. Her transformative work has been commissioned by the Lincoln Center, the American Dance Festival, BalletMet and the Kennedy Center, among many other organizations. Among Ms. Lerman’s many awards and recognitions is a 2002 MacArthur “Genius” Grant Fellowship.
• November 29, Exploring Healing Spaces: The Science of Place and Well-being with Esther Sternberg, a scientist based at the National Institutes of Health. Sternberg is recognized for her work in brain-immune interactions and the effects of the brain’s stress response on health—the science of mind-body interaction. She is author of two books, The Balance Within: The Science Connecting Health and Emotions and the recently published Healing Spaces: The Science of Place and Well-being (book signing follows).