What's New Robert L. Park 18 Feb 2011

WHAT=92S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 18 Feb 2011   Washington, DC

1. THE EPIPHANY: DOES THE TEMPLETON FOUNDATION MAKE YOU UNEASY? =20
It certainly makes me uneasy.  An excellent News Feature in this week's=20
Nature by Washington editor Mitch Waldrop gives some of the reasons why i=
t=20
should, but something important was left out.  (Much of what follows was=20
drawn from my book Superstition: Belief in the Age of Science (Princeton,=
=20
2000)).  As Waldrop points out, the Templeton Prize was not originally=20
created "to pursue Templeton's goal of building bridges between science a=
nd=20
religion."  Indeed, the first Templeton Prize winner in 1973 was a fanati=
c=20
Catholic nun who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta and wore=
 a=20
cilice.  A bridge to science, Mother Theresa certainly was not.  But then=
,=20
neither were the next 26 winners of the prize, most of whom had founded=20
religious movements that few scientists have ever heard of, except for=20
Billy Graham who founded the Evangelistic Association, and Charles Colson=
=20
of Watergate fame who founded the Prison Fellowship.  Later, the nicety o=
f=20
a prize committee would be added, although Templeton seems to have remain=
ed=20
in total control.  The first notable exception was Paul Davies in 1995, a=
=20
theoretical physicist who authored the Mind of God, and numerous other=20
popularizations of cosmology. Templeton wrote little and we know almost=20
nothing first-hand about what was going on in his head during this period=
. =20
He appears to have had an epiphany.  In 1999 the prize went to Ian Barbou=
r,=20
a physicist who had been Enrico Fermi=92s student at the University of=20
Chicago and who played a major role in building the first the nuclear=20
reactor. Certainly the most interesting winner of the Templeton Prize,=20
Barbour was disillusioned by the atomic bombing without warning Hiroshima=
=20
and Nagasaki.  After finishing his doctorate at Chicago, Barbour dropped=20
out of physics and took a degree in theology from Yale.  At Carleton=20
College he taught both physics and theology and is generally credited wit=
h=20
having created the Dialogue Between Science and Religion. Barbour marked =
a=20
sharp change in Templeton prize recipients.  From that point on, recipien=
ts=20
have been, almost without exception, physicists or cosmologists who, as=20
Dawkins put it, "say something nice about religion."   Sir John died in=20
2008, but things have changed little under his son.  The 2009 prize went =
to=20
a physicist; 2010 to biologist Francisco Ayala.

2. SELLING SCIENCE: THE PROBLEM WITH DISPROPORTIONATE WEALTH.
Sir John Templeton saw Ian Barbour=92s "dialogue between science and=20
religion" and he coveted it.  There is no point in being one of the riche=
st=20
men in the world if you can't buy the things you want.  So the Templeton=20
Foundation bought a magazine, Science and Spirit, and devoted it to=20
publicizing the dialogue, but who reads Science and Spirit?  So next,=20
Templeton went to the American Association for the Advancement of Science=
=20
with an offer of one million dollars to create the AAAS Dialogue between=20
Science and Religion.  That still sounds like a lot of money to=20
scientists.  The AAAS later backed out, but it serves to remind us that,=20
however obtained, a disproportionate share of the world's wealth, even in=
=20
the hands of the well-intentioned, is a threat to us all.

3. NO. NO. : IF YOU SEE THAT IN STRANGE PLACES, PLEASE IGNORE IT.
I'm forced to use word recognition these days, and for unexplained reason=
s=20
the Dragon keeps hearing no no.  Sometimes, depending on context, it spel=
ls=20
it know no.  We're working on it.  Please be patient.

THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND.
Opinions are the author's and not necessarily shared by the
University of Maryland, but they should be.
---
Archives of What's New can be found at http://www.bobpark.org
What's New is moving to a different listserver and our
subscription process has changed. To change your subscription
status please visit this link:
http://listserv.umd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=3Dbobparks-whatsnew&A=3D1