God Talk: Confusion between Science and Religion Posthumous Essay

Controversies concerning the religious implications of science have grown increasingly strained in recent years. Creation scientists have deployed new strategies to eliminate the teaching of evolution in public schools; right-to-life groups have obstructed fetal tissue research; and clerical groups have criticized genomics and genetic testing. Meanwhile, the Templeton Foundation has begun promoting the idea that there is no conflict between science and religion. In this paper, I explore emerging efforts to reconcile religion and science. I focus particularly on the use of religious imagery and metaphor by scientists as they seek to convince the public of the power of genes or to allay concerns about new tech-nologies. I suggest that their use of God talk may reflect both its wider prevalence in polit-ical rhetoric in the United States and its instrumental utility in light of the religious impli-cations of contemporary biology