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God the GeometerIn his July 2006 Addressing the public about science and religion opinion piece for Physics Today, Murray Peshkin - a theoretical physicist at Argonne national Lab - argues passionately about the benefits of scientists addressing the boundary between religion and science in a public forum. Peshkin describes how his public appearances have led to some interesting give-and-take - learning experiences for him and his audiences.
Peshkin's position is summarized by the title and opening line of an essay published in the Chicago Tribune magazine:
SCIENCE AND RELIGION: CAN THEY LEARN TO LIVE WITH EACH OTHER?
The answer is that they can and they must, or we will all suffer the consequences.
Given the nature of the polarized debates surrounding Intelligent Design, and particularly the Dover court case, it's clear that two topics need a good deal of elaboration: describing how a scientist uses the word theory, and the need for a theory to be falsifiable in order to count as science.
Peshkin uses an interesting, and effective hypothetical situation to drive home the falsifiable idea, which leads to his main point about the inherent differences between a scientific and religious world view:
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