jaehwan
Mar 13th, 2008, 01:42 PM
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/science/13prize.html
I put this one in the "religion" section because, well, that is where it belongs. The Templeton Prize was founded by a fundamentalist Christian, and as Richard Dawkins explains in God Delusion, it was meant to promote religion through religious ideas masquerading as science. Templeton, who was brilliant in finance, was a super-rich guy who made sure that his prize would always have a higher payout than the Nobel.
I think this is part of a larger problem in America and around the world--ideology seems to trump thought. Templeton, of course, had the right to promote what he wanted, but it's a shame that scientists don't have the same kind of funding or organizations dedicated to debunking pseudo-scientific religious ideas.
I put this one in the "religion" section because, well, that is where it belongs. The Templeton Prize was founded by a fundamentalist Christian, and as Richard Dawkins explains in God Delusion, it was meant to promote religion through religious ideas masquerading as science. Templeton, who was brilliant in finance, was a super-rich guy who made sure that his prize would always have a higher payout than the Nobel.
I think this is part of a larger problem in America and around the world--ideology seems to trump thought. Templeton, of course, had the right to promote what he wanted, but it's a shame that scientists don't have the same kind of funding or organizations dedicated to debunking pseudo-scientific religious ideas.