Sky and Telescope - September 2017 - 6

FROM OUR READERS

Thanks very much for the Focal Point
by Camille Carlisle entitled "Two Routes
to the Truth" (S&T: June 2017, p. 84).
I immensely enjoyed the author's personal insight about science and faith. It
is a difﬁcult and sensitive subject, and
I know that you will also receive letters
to the contrary. I have always felt closer
to God through my pursuit of this
wonderful hobby, and the article helped
me probe why I have felt this way. I still
don't have a good answer, although I
think it has something to do with my
personal discoveries and learning, the
time spent alone under the stars, and
perhaps simply having a VIP seat to the
beauty and wonder of the skies above.
Gary Imm
Onalaska, Texas

I was dismayed to read the ﬁnal essay
in your June 2017 issue. Although Focal
Point appears to provide a forum for various views, a scientiﬁc publication like Sky
& Telescope should not publish articles
that represent personal religious views.
The American public already has difﬁculty accepting scientiﬁc facts about
climate, evolution, and the age of Earth.
Your publication should be supporting critical scientiﬁc thinking and not
supernatural theories of the universe.
Additionally, the author is in
error by suggesting that science seeks
"truth." Science seeks knowledge supported by observation and experiment.
"Truth" is a term for philosophers and
metaphysicians.
Don Waters
Birmingham, Alabama

6

I much appreciated Carlisle's article.
A very similar viewpoint was espoused
by physicist Charles H. Townes, who
shared the 1964 Nobel Prize for the
invention of the maser/laser. He gave a
number of popular talks on science and
religion, one at a well-attended evening
meeting at Harvard in June 2005. During his presentation, he said without
comment, "I feel a spiritual presence."
The next morning, as we shared a cab to
the airport, he remarked on how beautiful the sunrise was. When I asked him
if he could elaborate on his comment
about feeling a spiritual presence, he
replied, "No, I just feel it."
It seems that we all have different
capabilities, talents, and sensibilities -
like artists who perceive reality in ways
many cannot.
By the way, Townes also won the
2005 Templeton Prize for "Progress
Toward Research or Discoveries about
Spiritual Realities."
Edwin Erickson
Sunnyvale, California

If Carlisle is serious about non-realitybased paths to the truth, I presume she
is prepared for a very long journey down
a nearly inﬁnite number of routes, for
that is surely the course that lies ahead
of any honest astronomer wishing to
place religion on a par with observable,
testable, predictable science.
Therefore, I assume that next month
we'll get an article on the differences
between the universes created by
Shiva or Ptah, or perhaps by the Flying
Spaghetti Monster - unless, of course,

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 7 * SK Y & TELESCOPE

Daniel Molitor
Pasadena, California

I have been an astronomer for more
than 50 years and a Presbyterian pastor
for nearly 40 years. I stand in a long
tradition of astronomers who were
also theologically trained and rooted -
Copernicus, Kepler, Tycho, T. W. Webb,
and others. Still, people are often surprised at how I can be both a pastor and
an astronomer.
I often explain that my faith is as
different from the religion commonly
portrayed in the media as astronomy
differs from astrology. It is the common
thread of a search for truth, one that
weaves its way through the fabric of
both, that binds me to both astronomy
and theology. Carlisle expressed the two
routes to the truth very well. So kudos
to S&T for publishing her well-thoughtout article.
Rev. Dr. W. Maynard Pittendreigh
Orlando, Florida

As a new subscriber, I wish to criticize
the editorial failure that led to the
publication of the Focal Point essay in
the June issue. Carlisle's religious testament has nothing to do with either sky
or telescope, and it is as inappropriate
in your journal as would be a cooking recipe, a political endorsement, or
pornography.
Jack Harris
Troy, New York

S&T ILLUSTR ATION

Faith and Science at a Crossroad

Carlisle has already narrowed her
acceptable "truth" down to just one
religious faith, in which case I detect a
bias in her data.
Perhaps Sky & Telescope can stick
with science?
Sky and Telescope - September 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sky and Telescope - September 2017
