Faith versus reason

Phyllis Zagano's essay "Trying to measure the unmeasurable" (NCR, Feb. 23) underscores what may be described as the creeping secularism in intellectual debate that is often thinly veiled anti-Catholicism. Lawrence Krauss' attacks on religious faith versus scientific reasoning, as published in The Chronicle of Higher Education seem self-contradictory. As Ms. Zagano points out, Pope Benedict XVI's talk at Regensburg expressed the church's long tradition that reason and faith are compatible. Pope John Paul II's encyclical, Fides et Ratio, articulated such a tradition in detail. But for Professor Krauss reason and faith have an odd, even an "oxymoronic," connection. Rather than seeing one sharp (reason) and the other dull (faith), perhaps Professor Krauss might look at how and when they complement each other for the sake of deepening and widening human understandings.

The ongoing dialogue among those engaged in the Metanexus Institute funded by the Templeton Foundation is a case in point. In his essay when Professor Krauss called the priorities of the Templeton Foundation "ill-conceived," he seems to be attempting to remove religion not only from academic debate but scientific research. As one engaged in research pertaining to the psychology of religion, I can attest to the field's collaborative and fruitful incorporation of concepts and perspectives from both science and religion. Professor Krauss' bias toward a reified reason in the academy eventually serves to limit one's education as the processes and problems facing human thought and belief are neither addressed nor argued. The avoidance and suppression of such debates and dialogue do not bode well for future generations.

C. KEVIN GILLESPIE

Baltimore

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