The Website of the Interdisciplinary Documentation on Religion and Science is the result of the experiences and scientific interchanges achieved during the preparation and publication of the Dizionario Interdisciplinare di Scienza e Fede , 2 vols., (Rome: Urbaniana University Press and Città Nuova, 2002) (English on-line edition The Interdisciplinary Encyclopedia of Religion and Science ). The documents and services presented are intended to meet the growing need for qualified and accurate information on the relationship between theology, philosophy and scientific thought. The Website is principally addressed to those who work in the field of school and university teaching, in pastoral initiatives for the Christian evangelization of culture, or those who are interested in the interdisciplinary aspects of scientific research.

The DISF website is directed by three university professors:

Giuseppe Tanzella-Nitti, (Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome)

Alberto Strumia, (University of Bari and the Theological Faculty of Emilia-Romagna, Bologna)

Michele Crudele, (University Campus Bio-Medico, Rome).

Dr. Valeria Ascheri (Pontifical University of the Holy Cross) is the Director’s assitant as well as the organizing secretary.

Dr. Giuseppe Murati of Medifad, Rome, is the Webmaster

A group of students and young university graduates, who are interested in the relationship between science and faith, collaborate in preparing the contents of the site. They also take part in the activities promoted by the DISF Working Group.

Dr. Paola Bozzi of the CNR Library, is responsible for the bibliographic services, together with Dr. Alessandro Giostra and Mr. Giampaolo del Monte

Dr. Stefano Bargioni collaborates for the graphics.

The website of the INTERDISCIPLINARY DOCUMENTATION ON RELIGION AND SCIENCE is supported by the Servizio nazionale per il progetto culturale of the CEI (Conferenza Episcopale Italiana - Italian Bishops Conference).

The activities of the DISF Working Group are supported by the Metanexus Institute of Philadelphia as one of the member groups of the Local Societies Initiative Project sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation

The Scientific Council is comprised of: Fiorenzo Facchini, Emeritus of Anthropology, University of Bologna; Mario Gargantini, scientific journalist, Director of Emmeciquadro, Euresis Milan; Flavio Keller, Professor of Human Physiology and Director of the Neuroscience Laboratory of the University Campus Bio-Medico of Rome; Giulio Meazzini, nuclear engineer, specialist in informatics and social sciences; Andrea Pocarelli, Professor of Philosophy at the Dominican Philosophical Studio of Bologna, High School Professor of History and Philosophy and President of UCIIM ( Unione Cattolica Italiana Insegnanti Medi ) of Bologna.

The promoters of the Interdisciplinary Documentation on Religion and Science encourage:

• the focus for a rigorous methodology, typical of scientific and philosophical research, which secures every sincere research of truth even in the delicate field of interdisciplinary studies, that involves theology and religion.
• the profound conviction that there is a necessity for the unity of knowledge where diverse insights coming from science, philosophy, art, morality and religion can be integrated into the unity of the intellectual experience of the knowing subject;
• the persuasion that the scientific enterprise no longer presents itself as a neutral and aseptic enterprise; but as a truly personal activity of the researcher, and as a passion for the truth which has the capacity to involve the subject and to support his or her own motivations.
• the awareness that scientific thought is by nature open to philosophical thought. This openness is shown by both the presence of fundamental philosophical themes recurrent in the analysis of the most varied scientific disciplines, and the presence of metaphysical principles underlying the method and the cognitive praxis of the sciences;
• and finally, the conviction that the relationship between science and religion should not be led from a renunciation to understand , as it frequently happens when some choose fideism as the easy way out, but from an effort to know , trying to integrate that which is believed with that which is known.