wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] U.S. physicist says science, religion needn't clash

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #8915 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05497
Sept. 21, 2005

U.S. physicist tells Chinese
that science, religion needn't clash
 
by Francis Wong
Ecumenical News International  
      
HONG KONG - When religious leaders cast doubts on the theory of evolution, it
may seem that science and religion are on a collision course, but a U.S.
Nobel laureate and physicist has told the Chinese that the two can work side
by side for humanity.  
       
      "Science deals with how the universe works, and religion searches for
its meaning and purpose," Charles H. Townes, a physicist whose work led to
the development of the laser, told the media while leading a seminar at the
Chinese University here.

      Townes, 90, won the 2005 Templeton Prize in March for his long-time
efforts to promote dialogue between science and religion. He and two other
scientists shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1964 for inventions such as
the laser.  
       
      "Religion may affect science investigation," said Townes, a Protestant
who describes himself as non-sectarian. "It helps to reflect on what life
should be. On the other hand, scientific research helps to improve human
life.

	"We must recognize that there are many things that we still don't
know." 

	Townes's appearance in Hong Kong came not long after a debate
triggered earlier in the year by Austrian Roman Catholic Cardinal Christoph
Schoenborn.   
       
	 In an article in the New York Times  on July 7, the cardinal said
that "evolution in the sense of common ancestry might be true, but evolution
in the neo-Darwinian sense - an unguided, unplanned process of random
variation and natural selection - is not." He said "any system of thought
that denies or seeks to explain away the overwhelming evidence for design in
biology is ideology, not science."   
       
      Townes, a member of the Pontifical Academy of Science, which advises
Pope Benedict XVI on scientific issues, told the National Catholic Reporter
that he found Schoenborn's remarks "disappointing."  
       
      In Hong Kong, Townes recalled that when a religious-themed article
appeared in a journal published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
early in his academic life, a well-known scientist complained that a science
journal shouldn't print articles about religion.   
       
      "But luckily, it is easier for the dialogue today," he said.
"Scientists are open-minded with religion. And many of my friends in the
field are Christians."
     
      Townes was raised in a Baptist family that embraced an open-minded
approach to Biblical interpretation.  
       
      The Templeton Prize, which recognizes "progress toward research or
discoveries about spiritual realities," includes a monetary award of more
than $1.5 million.

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