On October 13, the Humanitas360 Institute held the 6th edition of “Difficult Conversations”, a project carried out in partnership with the social impact hub CIVI-CO and anthropologist Juliano Spyer. This time, the chosen theme was the difficult relationship between science and spirituality, guiding the debate with the question: “Does science’s materialist bias prevent it from considering as real that which is not material?” Other questions emerged during the conversation, for example: how does science deal – or fail to deal – with topics related to faith and religion? What is the place of spirituality in hospitals, universities, and laboratories? Is the intellectual environment anti-spiritual?
First to respond, psychiatrist Alexander Moreira-Almeida, who directs the Research Center on Spirituality and Health at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, argued that there is an anti-spiritual bias in academic training, inviting viewers to reconsider what he considers myths about the relationship between science and spirituality. Next, psychology professor at the Catholic University of Brasília and president of the International Association for the Psychology of Religion, Marta Helena de Freitas, stated that breaking the silence about faith and religiosity is “a matter of physical health and mental health.” Journalist Sérgio Dávila, from the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, was unable to attend due to a health problem, but sent a text to be read during the event.
The complete debate remains available on H360’s YouTube channel. Watch:
