You can have faith in nanotechnology/science, you can have no faith in nanotechnology/science, and/or you can have faith in a spiritual/religious sense. Michele Catanzaro in a June 12, 2013 posting on the Guardian’s Small World Nanotech blog combines two of the ‘faiths’ I mentioned to explore the topic of nanotechnology and spiritual or religious faith,

In the science fiction short story Halo, a panel of Muslim scholars discuss a strip of bacon made by a “molecular assembler”, a device capable of producing the meat directly from individual atoms, instead of slicing the meat from an animal. All meat from a pig is forbidden according to Islam’s halal laws. Synthetic bacon is identical to the real one, but it has never been part of a living pig. Is it still forbidden?

…

It is mostly secular voices who have expressed their thoughts and concerns on nanotechnology until now, but there is a lot of evidence that public views on it will be shaped by religious beliefs.

Catanzaro quotes Donald Bruce about why there doesn’t seem to have been much interest from the various religions,

“I think there has not been much concern about nanotechnology in religious thinking, because if you look into it in detail, the concerns that arise don’t come from nanotechnology in itself, but rather from specific applications, like those to food and environment,” says Donald Bruce, founder of the Edinethics consultancy based in Edinburgh, which has worked for the Church of Scotland.

(Bruce was mentioned in my Nov. 9, 2012 posting [scroll down about 25% of the way], in relation to some of his public engagement initiatives.)

Cantazaro draws heavily from Chris Toumey’s, a cultural anthropologist at the University of South Carolina, work.

Toumey’s analysis of the few studies done on believers’ opinions has found a worry shared by several religions: that nanotechnology will reshape human nature. “Faith communities are reacting to the representation of nanotechnology made by a popular group of writers, called transhumanists,” Toumey points out.

This is a very interesting piece and I recommend reading it in its entirety.  If you’re interested in  additional references on the topic, I last featured Toumey’s investigations into faith and nanotechnology in a Nov. 16, 2011 posting, where I noted at least three, as well, I mentioned at the end that you can get Toumey’s paper “Seven Religious Reactions to Nanotechnology,” by contacting him (Toumey@mailbox.sc.edu).