Another year goes by, and yet again the Templetonians have failed to throw a million pounds at me. I feel the same way I do when they announce the Powerball lottery winners and my ticket isn’t among the winners — of course, I never buy lottery tickets anyway, but that just makes the analogy even more perfect. The word for the seething emotional and intellectual turmoil I’m feeling right now is…”meh.”
So this year the Templeton Foundation has made the cunning decision to suborn somebody already sympathetic to their cause and with a respectable scientific reputation: an astronomer who doesn’t believe in any gods but does suck up to the church and who detests vocal atheists. I do love how he sneers at Stephen Hawking for knowing “little philosophy and less theology,” and then when discussing his own philosophy of supporting the church, he says he likes the architecture of cathedrals and the hymns. Yeah, there’s a deep thinker. I read the interview; it’s like a conversation with a soggy piece of toast.
Now he’s a rich slice of soggy toast. Mediocrity pays!
Jerry Coyne has a nice piece in the Guardian on the award.
