Sir

Andrew Brown's Obituary of John Templeton (Nature 454, 290; 2008) and your Editorial ('Templeton's legacy' Nature 454, 253–254; 2008) both touch upon the philanthropist's interest in science and faith. Some might argue that science and faith should be kept separate, although others have no problem in reconciling the two. I am reminded of the different perspective on this eternal debate that is offered in astrophysicist Carl Sagan's science-fiction novel Contact (Orbit, 1985) — though not in the film of the same name, which is only very loosely based on the book.

Contact recounts an astronomer's successful search for alien intelligence. It also has a subplot that science and religion are, in fact, closer than the two camps imagine. Scientists' use of the scientific method pragmatically includes faith. A scientist must first conceive the idea for an experiment, and then — on the basis merely of the hopeful presumption of its possible outcome — invest time and resources in funding and executing it in the anticipation of a meaningful result.

Work supported by the Templeton Foundation that investigates the relationship between science and faith could help to improve science communication and to address science-and-society issues. So let's hope that Templeton's son has the same penchant for meaningfully verifiable results as his dad.