Interesting interview by Ian Sample of the Guardian with Martin Rees: “I’ve got no religious beliefs at all.” Martin Rees just received the Templeton Prize.
. . .
IS: What do you make of the approach to science and religion issues taken by Richard Dawkins and those of his ilk?
MR: I won’t comment on him, but I’m not allergic to religion. I would say two things. One is that I think all of us are concerned about fanaticism and fundamentalism and we need all the allies we can muster against it. And I would see Rowan Williams [Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury] et al as being on our side. I admire them more than want to rubbish them. Another point is if you are teaching Muslim sixth formers in a school and you tell them they can’t have their God and Darwin, there is a risk they will choose their God and be lost to science. So those are two respects where I would disagree with the emphasis of the professional atheists, as it were.
