Martin Rees, winner of The Templeton Prize, on God, life, the universe.

Hannah Devlin and Ruth Gledhill of The Times enjoy a wide-ranging discussion with Lord Rees of Ludlow, Atronomer Royal and Master of Trinity, Cambridge about the Templeton Prize which honours science and religion. Martin Rees, until recently President of the Royal Society, says he has not yet decided what to do with the £1 million award. He ponders the big questions of the universe, admits to attending chapel despite not being remotely religious, and also, wearing his university hat, reflects with concern on the present state of science education in Britain's schools. See more on this story at thetimes.co.uk/science and thetimes.co.uk/articlesoffaith. See in its context at http://thetim.es/dSZ1ab (£) (Apologies for the poor sound quality, I plan soon to invest in a camcorder which can take a mic attachment.)

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Ruth Gledhill
• Hannah Devlin
• Lord Rees
• Martin Rees
• Atronomer Royal
• Royal Society
• science
• religion
• The Times
• Articles of Faith
• education
• Templeton Prize

[lanksareit]

Try to get a better microphone. Sound quality very poor. Thank you.

[rgledhillfranks]

@lanksareit I know I do apologise I use a Flip camcorder and it is not possible to attach a mic. I am going to try and get a better camera as soon as I am in a position to do so.

[TroyOi]

Sorry, I had to give you a thumbs down because of the poor audio.

[tommiatkins]

@rgledhillfranks Meh, c'mon. The Templeton foundation could have provided you with a Solid diamond camera that had been anointed by the Pope. Or perhaps a magical supernatural camera that needed no flim or light and beamed images directly into the skull. Such is Yawehs mighty power.

[thedeeliciousplum]

Thank goodness that time is an ally to reason. There are organizations that appear to be benign in nature. The Templeton Foundation contributes to blurring the lines that assist humanity in differentiating immaterial from material, supernatural from natural & imagination from testable fact. I may not be able to do much whilst contibuting my l'il voice to this issue. Yet, I am thankful that time helps humanity to expose the organizations & individuals that act in a deceptive & unmindful manner.

[cloudbusterman]

The word "mysterious" has root in the Greek word for "initiate", i.e. a pupil of something, though the meaning has shifted to suggest cults. The associated instinct set should be called pupillanimous (pro-Realism, higher order, indirect reason, a motivation to wonder at Otherthings), as opposed to the pusillanimity of Idealism and the non-wondering pugilanimity of Objectivism (dia-bolou), so often combined into the squirmishes of the Third Way, the Idealism-Objectivism nexus.