Scientists, theologians, and ethicists met last night to discuss the controversy surrounding the use of human cadavers in "Bodies: The Exhibition," currently at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Science Center. The debate focused on whether the exhibit's use of unidentified bodies from China was a dishonor to the dead or a useful educational tool. The 90-minute discussion was aired live on Pittsburgh's WQED TV station and can now be viewed online. —Dan Messier

In today's Boston Globe, Alan Wolfe, a professor of political science and director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston College, interprets the findings of the survey released by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life earlier this week. Wolfe helps us make sense of the data, identify the trends, and draw conclusions about the future of faith and tolerance in American culture. Wolfe also writes on the future of religion in America in the March issue of The Atlantic Monthly.

Old wood from historic churches has become a new resource for researchers hoping to reconstruct weather patterns and climate history. When the Salt Lake Tabernacle, a sacred Mormon building built from local trees beginning in 1863, was renovated in 2005 and the structural timbers were replaced with steel beams, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gave Matthew Bekker, an assistant professor of geography at Brigham Young University, the opportunity to study the wood. By studying and dating the growth rings of these timbers, a science known as "dendrochronology," Bekker discovered that when Mormons arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, it was one of the driest periods in the region's recent history, meaning Utah's first Anglo settlers faced the hardships of a severe drought. —Kaitlin Shimer

The winner of the 2008 Templeton Prize will be announced in a news conference (and live Web cast) at the Church Center for the United Nations in New York on March 12 at 11 a.m. The prize, valued at more than 1.6 million dollars, the largest annual monetary award given to an individual, celebrates someone who has engaged life's big questions, whether it be the laws of nature and the universe, or the nature of love, gratitude, forgiveness, or creativity.

The 10 winners of the Templeton-Cambridge Journalism Fellowships in Science & Religion have been announced. For the fourth year, the journalists will gather at the University of Cambridge over the summer for independent research, seminars, and discussions led by some of the world's most prominent physicist, cosmologists, and theologians. "With the deeper understanding that they gain through the fellowship program, these journalists will be better able to promote a more informed public discussion of science and religion," the Rev. Dr. Fraser Watts, co-director of the fellowships, said in a statement. The program, which runs through June and July, will include journalists from The San Diego Union-Tribune, Discover, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Orlando Sentinel, The New Republic, and Slate.com. —Heather Wax

In the "Weekly Torah Portion" of the New Jersey Jewish News, Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman, a professor of liturgy at the Hebrew Union College in New York, examines how science can inform the Jewish commandment to do no work on Shabbat by helping Jews to make sense of what qualifies as "work" and why. Drawing on the work of structural anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss and his idea of "cooked" nature—nature shaped for our own use—Hoffman offers Jews a way to interpret the commandment as an instruction to take a break from the obligation to create culture and society, and to, for one day of the week, enjoy "nature in the raw." —Heather Wax

Earlier this week, the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life has released the details of its 2007 "U.S. Religious Landscape Survey," and the findings have since been picked up and interpreted by nearly every major news source in the country. The survey sampled more than 35,000 American adults in an attempt to detail the nation's religious composition. The results show the fluid nature of religious affiliation in America—many Americans switch religious denominations over the course of their lives. One of the most surprising findings is that Protestant denominations, once a large majority, now claim only 51 of Americans as adherents, while the Catholic Church has lost more members than any other faith group. More than 16 percent of Americans claim to be unaffiliated with any religion, making it the group with the largest net gain. This group includes both those who are secular and those who are religious but practice their faith independently, as well as atheists (1.6 percent) and agnostics (2.4 percent).
It's possible these changing numbers could impact the public debate and perception surrounding a number of science and religion issues. For instance, another Pew survey, conducted in August of 2006, found that evangelical Protestants (a group now on the decline) were most staunchly opposed to evolution, whereas those claiming to be secular (a group on the rise) were evolution's strongest proponents.
This spring, Pew will release a second report that goes beyond the religious labels to get at Americans' beliefs and religious practices. —Stephen Mapes