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.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cowie, J. Religion: science is partially based on faith. Nature 455, 26–27 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/455026d
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/455026d