Grant Helps Westmont Prof Research Faith, Science Link

Westmont College announced this week that biology professor Jeffrey Schloss will receive two grants totaling $20,000 from the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences that will enable him to further research purported links between science and faith. Specifically, Schloss will be looking into how religious worship can affect the “human bonding” hormone oxytocin, which may strengthen the attachment between mothers and infants, as well as other person-to-person relationships. According to a press release from Westmont, Schloss’s future in the subject will have him working with the Pulizter-prize winning author of Edward Larsen of Pepperdine University School of Law, among others. The money will also be put to such causes as a book, lectures and a planned international conference in Santa Barbara. “Many prominent writers, both secular and Christian, promote a ‘warfare’ view of science and faith: choose one, reject the other, or domesticate one by the authority of the other,” Schloss said in the press release. “We believe faith and science can and should be celebrated in their full integrity and are necessary for intellectual progress and social harmony.”