Who Sponsors Peaceful Science?

[swamidass (S. Joshua Swamidass)]

It is certainly valid to ask…

@Patrick

Sponsoring organization? There is a sponsoring organization for this? Who is funding this, I would like to know.

@Patrick

I certainly don’t know perfectly well what you mean by “sponsoring organization”. Is this site somehow sponsored by Templeton in some way? I ask again, "Who is funding this effort?

@Guy_Coe

It’s an eminently fair question. To my knowledge, this is a voluntarily run WordPress account that needs very little, if any, funding. I’ve never been approached to help fund it, for example. It’s definitely not sustained with Templeton funds. Joshua speaks and travels around the country, often an invitee of the Veritas Forum programs, and regularly invites students, academics, and others to join us here. Seems as though the result is an eclectic mix with delightfully, at least much of the time, varied Christian and other perspectives. Glad for your presence here, too.

Web costs are about $300 per year, and currently I’m the one pays for this, out of my own money. I’m volunteering my time here. So do not take it personally if I do not always respond quickly.

I did get a $25K STEAM grant (http://thesteamproject.org/), housed at WUSTL, not at Peaceful Science, to fund some efforts. Common Ground: Year 1 I’m woefully behind in publishing another update, and in posting the videos from the first year. That will all happen soon. This 2 year grant funded a nominal 1% of my salary, and covers travel, honorariums, and other related expense over the last two years. STEAM is funded by the Templeton Foundation.

For those that are concerned about Templetons’ “influence” here, keep in mind that Templeton has never funded me directly, and I’m currently somewhat at “odds” with one of their major grantees.

I also am an advisor (unfunded) for another STEAM grant at Concordia seminary on “The Theological History of Science,” which was recently completed too. I’ll probably post videos for this soon too. @J.E.S will probably be excited about this because he is LCMS Lutheran.

I am often invited to speak across the country. In most cases, I’m usually reimbursed for travel, lodging, and get a modest honorarium. Nothing to brag about; this is not lucrative by any measure. One event in January, the atheist club was annoyed that their preferred Atheist champion was unwilling to come for less than $15,000. I, to be clear, was there for much much less.

This, as far as I know, are all my financial entanglements here. If we grow from here, maybe we will need set up a non-profit and solicit donations. I’m hoping that will not be necessary. Though, any one who wants to help chip in on $300, I’d be happy to let you .

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So, we can say that Peaceful Science (for now, that just means Dr. Swamidass) is sponsoring this forum, and has some unrelated funding from the STEAM project of Templeton.