- Sean Carroll on science and religion, and why he doesn’t take money from the Templeton Foundation;
- Short items on how the Trump administration cutting funding to study the hantavirus, the one now loose on that cruise ship; more blaming Satan and demons; explaining the missing scientists case, how rights come from the government not God, and how Tennessee erased the state’s only Democrat-held seat;
- Ennio Morricone’s State of Grace.
Here’s an old piece from 2013, that was linked to a recent piece that I saw yesterday, by Sean Carroll, author of one of my favorite books, THE BIG PICTURE, which I wrote up here almost 10 years ago.
It’s been noted that, especially in the past 50 years, religion has tried to borrow the imprimatur of science. Religion generally ignores or defies the conclusions of science, yet culture has changed sufficiently enough that religious ideas gain more traction if they’re dressed up in pseudo-scientific terms. Thus Creationism became Intelligent Design.
The Templeton Foundation is a religious organization that seeks the endorsements, mostly implicit, of scientists around the world by awarding them big cash prizes for suitable books or articles they can claim are sympathetic to religion. If you squint hard enough. Some scientists and other writers are happy to take their money, perhaps with a wink. Some aren’t.

Slate, Sean Carroll, 9 May 2013: Science and Religion Can’t Be Reconciled, subtitled “Why I won’t take money from the Templeton Foundation.” Continue reading












