Religion and Science

The Nobel Prize-winning (in 1964) physicist and inventor of the laser, Charles H. Townes, just won the Templeton award for his work on the relationship between science and religion. Writing today at opinionjournal.com about that relationship, he calmly jots down what is in effect a series of "notes of reminder." Among the most starkly astounding is this one, which refers to the mysterious and unlocatable "dark matter" that makes up the bulk of the mass of the universe:

We are now convinced that the matter we can identify in our universe is only about 5% of all that is there. What is the rest of it? Scientists are trying hard to detect this strange unknown matter. Will they, and when?

I thought that the estimate was that "dark matter" made up about 70% of the mass of the universe, not 95% as implied by Townes. Perhaps he is calculating the mass equivalent of "dark energy" into the equation as well. Anyway, whether it's 70% or 95% of the matter of the universe that scientists can't find, it's a number that you've got to be impressed by. One suggestion I've seen is that "dark matter" doesn't resemble the matter that we know, with its familiar atomic structure, and could be something entirely different.

I found Townes implied conclusion that religion is as unsettled as science a bit odd for someone who also implies that he is a believer. The mystery of faith seem to me to be far more clarified than the mystery of science, the former being the gift of God while the latter is merely the striving of men.