Announcing the 72nd Annual Conference of the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science | June 27 – July 4, 2027
2027 Theme | Kinship and Accountability: Rethinking Animal Lives in a Human-Dominated World
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This interdisciplinary conference will examine our profound interrelatedness with non-human animals, drawing from science, philosophy, religion, and ethics. Research in evolution, ecology, and animal cognition, exploring our deep commonalities, has fundamentally challenged the traditional distinctions separating us from animals. We must also urgently ask what it means for non-human animals to find a place — indeed, even to exist — in a world we thoroughly dominate.
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The conference will explore how humans can transition from disruptors to responsible kin within the community of life that includes individual creatures, complex populations, and evolving species. We will consider both wild animals, who depend on their ecosystems for their lives and nurture, and domesticated and captive animals — livestock, laboratory mice, dogs and cats, and zoo animals — who depend on humans.
A variety of speakers will address both the ongoing devastation of ecosystems that nurture such wild animals as whales, elephants, corals, butterflies, and non-human primates and the inhumane conditions imposed on animals in captivity, and will describe hopeful programs for restoration. We will examine the philosophical and religious roots of human dominion over nature and explore the shift in our relationship with our animal brethren from one of domination to one of communion, including topics such as the evolving rights of animals and nature; new conservation and farming practices that recognize the agency and contributions of animal partners; and incorporating animal perspectives into decision-making.
We will invite participants, via chapel talks and other spiritual offerings, to reimagine the human-animal relationship not as a hierarchy but as a continuum of kinship, as is the case in most indigenous, pagan, and naturalist traditions, where human dignity and well-being are measured by the flourishing of our non-human kin as well as ourselves.
Conference Chairs: Erik Assadourian, Abby Fuller, Ursula Goodenough
A variety of speakers will address both the ongoing devastation of ecosystems that nurture such wild animals as whales, elephants, corals, butterflies, and non-human primates and the inhumane conditions imposed on animals in captivity, and will describe hopeful programs for restoration. We will examine the philosophical and religious roots of human dominion over nature and explore the shift in our relationship with our animal brethren from one of domination to one of communion, including topics such as the evolving rights of animals and nature; new conservation and farming practices that recognize the agency and contributions of animal partners; and incorporating animal perspectives into decision-making.
We will invite participants, via chapel talks and other spiritual offerings, to reimagine the human-animal relationship not as a hierarchy but as a continuum of kinship, as is the case in most indigenous, pagan, and naturalist traditions, where human dignity and well-being are measured by the flourishing of our non-human kin as well as ourselves.
Conference Chairs: Erik Assadourian, Abby Fuller, Ursula Goodenough
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