"In times when we are not particularly suffering, we do not have enough time for God. We are too busy with other things. And then the intense suffering comes, and we can not be busy with other things. And then God comes into the equation."

Biological and technological evolution "is a spiritual process," says this famous futurist. "Entities become more godlike, never reaching that ideal but moving in that direction exponentially."

Purposefulness and self-sacrifice in human life "can never be reduced to a machine," according to this bioethicist.

"Patients require that one-on-one encounter, the Samaritan function of being a physician," says writer and Stanford Medical School professor Abraham Verghese. "When the physician examines the patient, this is an incredibly important ritual."

“Being religious or spiritual has a very profound effect on our biology and our brain,” says neuroscientist Andrew Newberg. “It can change our brain and change ourselves over time.”

"Patients require that one-on-one encounter, the Samaritan function of being a physician," says writer and Stanford Medical School professor Abraham Verghese. "I'm convinced that when the physician examines the patient, this is an incredibly important ritual."

Read more of Bob Abernethy's October 16, 2006 interview in Cambridge, Massachusetts with E.O. Wilson.

Read an excerpt from THE CREATION: AN APPEAL TO SAVE LIFE ON EARTH by E.O. Wilson (Norton, 2006), written in the form of a letter to a Southern Baptist pastor.