The Templeton Foundation

There was an interesting story this morning on NPR about the Templeton Foundation and their efforts to fund physics research. The Templeton folks are interested in the interface between science and spirituality, and sponsor the Templeton Prize (which is intentionally larger than the Nobel). The occasion for this story is an upcoming conference at Berkeley in honor of Charles Townes' 90th birthday, sponsored by the Templeton Foundation. I know about this because, like pretty much all of my peers, I received an announcement about a Young Scholar's competition being held at this meeting.

I have no problem with increased dialog between science and religion, as long as people remember where the boundaries are. "God did it" is a rather inquiry-ending proposition to hold in a scientific investigation, so I prefer to assume that non-supernatural explanations exist for the world around me and go from there.

Anyway, the story is interesting food for thought. Physicists talked to who are skeptical of the Templeton Foundation's motives include Sean Carroll and Lawrence Krauss.