20251228 Can a Science Flood Story Inspire Us as Much as the One by Noah? with Dr. Stephen Ledoux

The biblical flood story by Noah has been inspirational for millennia. More recently, science has uncovered facts about a flood unprecedented in human history, from a time and place that indicate it was the source of the Great Flood experiences and stories. Can this flood story by science be at least as inspirational as Noahʼs story? More inspirational? Perhaps a closer look will provide an answer.

Four years of Catholic seminary high school and two years of seminary college, in the “Times they are aʼchangin” 1960s, led Stephen to complete college and an MA degree in the natural science of behavior (today called behaviorology). After teaching college in Australia (1975–1978) and China (1979)—and because, somewhat unbelievably, Ronald Reagan and James Bond signed his MA degree—he returned to studies and completed his Ph.D. in 1982. He then taught at the State University of New York in Canton, where he met and married his spouse, Dr. Nelly Case (in Cantonʼs UU Church). To preserve each otherʼs jobs—she was a professor of music at the SUNY campus in Potsdam, NY, a few miles away—they stayed in Canton for over 30 years and raised two children there. Then in 2016, they retired to Los Alamos, New Mexico, from where they visit their children, who both currently live in New England. Recently, Stephen and his wife, Nellie Case, have moved to Massachusetts and are becoming active at UUCW. Nellie is a retired Professor of Music and will accompany her husband during this service.

The Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester (UUCW) is located in Worcester, the heart of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Our services are live-streamed on ... at 10 am every Sunday and stored on our website www.uucworcester.org for future viewing. The music you hear is from "Song Without Words," written and performed by our Music Director, Matt Johnsen.