Readers’ thoughts on science and religion

As a retired physics professor who has made the occasional foray ¹ into the topic of science and religion, I thank Tom McLeish for his civilized and hopefully civilizing approach to the discussion (“Thinking differently about science and religion,” Physics Today, February 2018, page 10 ). Center stage is too often dominated by militant atheists, willfully ignorant antiscience religionists, and cynical politicians who feed on the fears of a badly educated segment of the public. McLeish eloquently catalogs the harm done by the rabid nondialog from those groups.

I believe there is a silent minority—at least—of capable academics who could bring their expert views to provide a much-needed elevation of the science and religion discussion. The task is daunting for those professionally involved in a single discipline, be it physics, biology, philosophy, theology, or other, but we need to step outside our comfort zone and take back the center ground of discourse on this important topic.