Last night, I watched a live Web cast of the traditional Kol Nidre service that marks the beginning of Yom Kippur, the solemn Day of Atonement in Judaism. It was the second year that the Jewish Television Network has broadcast an online version of the prayer service, even though some rabbis feel Jewish worship is a communal act that is meant to be experienced surrounded by others in a synagogue.
But the online service, this year led by Rabbi Naomi Levy (who has appeared on Oprah), is designed to attract Jews who aren't affiliated with a synagogue, are unable to leave their homes, or may have become disconnected from the faith. In 2004, Levy founded Nashuva, a Jewish community of prayer and action in Brentwood, California, which wants to reach out to unaffiliated Jews; it doesn't have dues, membership, or even a building (services are held at Brentwood Presbyterian Church, and the two congregations work together on interfaith projects), and the community is committed to social action, critical thinking, learning, and dialogue. It was expected that about 50,000 people would watch Nashuva's prayer service online.
"With the Kol Nidre service, we recognized that it's an opportunity to democratize Jewish life," Jay Sanderson, CEO of JTN Productions and JewishTVNetwork.com, told the Los Angeles Daily News. "This service is very universal and we want to get it out there to as many people as we can." —Heather Wax

During last night's debate, both Barack Obama and John McCain said the nation is facing its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. But there's some good news: Money is only one part of what makes people genuinely happy, according to Ed Diener and his son Robert Biswas-Diener, who together wrote the new book Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of Psychological Wealth. Diener, a psychologist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is a leading expert on the science of happiness and a pioneer in the field of positive psychology, while Biswas-Diener, a lecturer at Portland State University, is called the "Indiana Jones of positive psychology" because he's studied well-being in some of the most remote places on the planet.
Money and happiness are linked, of course: Money can buy better medical care, education, and vacations, and it can translate, they say, into greater social status, feelings of control, and opportunities to make lasting contributions to society. But "the effect of money on happiness is often not large. Income appears to buy happiness, but the exchange rate isn't great. Extra dollars often amount to modest gains in happiness," they write. "More important than the absolute amount of your paycheck or your exact net worth is your attitude toward your money and the ways in which you spend it. Rich people who spend outside their means feel poor, and poor people who live within a careful budget feel secure. Regardless of your actual income, it is your material aspirations that color your mood. ... Even for people in wealthy societies, problems can arise when they become too wedded to the idea of striking it rich and accumulating wealth. Materialists are generally less satisfied with their lives than folks who highly value love, friendships, and other worthwhile pursuits."
True psychological wealth—the feeling that we are living "in a rewarding, engaged, meaningful, and enjoyable way"—depends more on the pursuit of important goals than on the acquisition of goods, the researchers say, and it involves strong relationships, an ability to adapt to life's changes, and a connection to something larger than yourself. —Heather Wax

"The forgiveness instinct is every bit as wired in as the revenge instinct. It seems that our minds work very hard to get away from resentment, if we can," Mike McCullough, a professor of psychology and religious studies at the University of Miami, says in a New York Times piece about the role of revenge motivation in people's responses to the credit market meltdown.
McCullough, who recently wrote the book Beyond Revenge, says that over time, the urge for revenge slowly fades. Researcher believe this urge to retaliate against cheaters and freeloaders—even at our own risk—likely evolved to protect and stabilize our communities against threats and invaders. "The urge to take revenge or punish cheaters is not a disease or toxin or sign that something has gone wrong," says McCullough. "From the point of view of evolution, it’s not a problem but a solution." Unfortunately, he says, these urges "often promote behavior that turns out to be spiteful in the long run."
Back in March, a study by mathematician and biologist Martin Nowak and his colleagues at Harvard University showed that punitive behavior doesn't benefit the individual who punishes or the group as a whole. While acts of spite might have evolved to establish hierarchies or defend ownership, they don't promote cooperation and often trigger a spiral of retaliation that is detrimental and destructive. "Our finding has a very positive message," the researchers told Science & Religion Today. "In an extremely competitive setting, the winners are those who resist the temptation to escalate conflicts, while the losers punish and perish." —Heather Wax

Back in March, when he won the 2008 Templeton Prize (valued at more than 1.6 million dollars), Michael Heller, a Polish cosmologist and Catholic priest, said he would give all the money to endow what he called the "Copernicus Center" in Krakow, Poland. The center, a joint venture between Jagiellonian University and the Pontifical Academy of Theology in Krakow, would be dedicated to studying the relationship between science and religion as an academic discipline.
The Copernicus Center for Interdisciplinary Studies is now officially open—funded in large part by Heller. Research will focus on interactions among theology, philosophy, and science (including astronomy, cosmology, biology, mathematics, physics, and the history of science), and the center will organize lectures and public seminars, and publish two monograph series and a yearbook called For Philosophy and Science (in both English and Polish). The center has already established 12 research teams studying various topics related to science and religion. —Michele Calandra

Jeanne Caldwell's lawsuit against the Understanding Evolution Web site, a joint project of the University of California Museum of Paleontology and the National Center for Science Education, has been dismissed. A federal appeals court has upheld the lower court's decision in the case, in which Caldwell challenged the constitutionality of the site, saying it violates the separation of church and state with statements made under the section "Misconception: 'Evolution and religion are incompatible.'" The site explains that the "misconception that one always has to choose between science and religion is incorrect. Of course, some religious beliefs explicitly contradict science (e.g., the belief that the world and all life on it was created in six literal days); however, most religious groups have no conflict with the theory of evolution or other scientific findings. In fact, many religious people, including theologians, feel that a deeper understanding of nature actually enriches their faith."
Caldwell argues that the site, which is supported by a federal grant, violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment with government-endorsed religious messages. She uses the site, she says, to participate as an informed citizen in debates and decisions about science class materials (her kids attend California public schools), but the appeals court found "there is too slight a connection between Caldwell's generalized grievance, and the government conduct about which she complains, to sustain her standing to proceed." —Heather Wax

Memorial services have been planned for Sir John Templeton, who died in July at the age of 95. Templeton, a mutual fund manager turned philanthropist, established the Templeton Foundation to explore the "big questions" of science and religion (and many believe he was, in large part, responsible for the modern movement to study the relationship between the two).
Services will be held at Princeton University Chapel in New Jersey on November 21 and at Christ Church Cathedral in the Bahamas on November 29. Donations can be made to the Lyford Cay Foundation for the Sir John Templeton Memorial Scholarships, and if you'd like to share your thoughts on Templeton and his philanthropy with his family, letters can be sent to:

Dr. John M. Templeton, Jr., President
John Templeton Foundation
300 Conshohocken State Road, Suite 500
West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania USA 19428

Last week, about 40 students at Olivet Nazarene University in Illinois rallied to support biology professor Richard Colling, who in 2007 was barred from teaching the school's general biology class because he self-published the book Random Designer, which tries to reconcile evolution with Christian faith (and challenges the Church of the Nazarene's belief in biblical creation). Other professors at the university were also barred from using the book. The decision, believed to be the result of pressure from financial supporters and board members, raised questions of academic freedom at Christian and other religious institutions of higher learning.
Students at the rally said Colling helped them find harmony between seemingly conflicting concepts in science and religion, and many were there to promote the idea of open debate. To be fair, professors at other Nazarene schools haven't faced sanctions for writing on similar topics: At Eastern Nazarene College in Massachusetts, for example, Karl Giberson, a physics professor, has published a number of articles and books on the relationship between science and religion, including Saving Darwin, and at Point Loma Nazarene University in California, biology professor Darrel Falk, who's known for being an anti-creationist, tried to bridge biology and faith in his book Coming to Peace With Science. —Heather Wax