By THE INDEPENDENT AND THE TELEGRAPH
Added: Sun, 06 Sep 2009 23:00:00 UTC

Thanks to Corylus for the links.

The Independent
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/fundamentalism-will-damage-society-says-top-scientist-1782930.html

Fundamentalism will damage society, says top scientist

By Steve Connor, Science Editor

The existence of a supernatural being in the form of a god who can dish out punishment in the afterlife may have been an important force in the past that helped to keep societies together as co-operative entities – but not so in the future.

Lord May of Oxford, the president of the British Science Festival, said that although religion may have once helped to stabilise human societies, the rise in fundamentalism could make it more difficult to bring about the sort of high-level co-operation needed to tackle the global problems of climate change and a growing human population.

The former chief scientific adviser to the government warned that the rise of fundamentalist religions in both the east and west will have a detrimental impact on the ability of the world to cope with the problems of the 21st Century.

Lord May, a mathematical biologist, said in his presidential address to the conference, that co-operation between people globally will be needed more than ever in the coming decades but added he feared that to make sure it worked there had to be some kind of mechanism that punished those who cheated others. In the past, the ultimate punisher was God.
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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/fundamentalism-will-damage-society-says-top-scientist-1782930.html
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The Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/richard-alleyne/6146656/Maybe-religion-is-the-answer-claims-atheist-scientist.html

Maybe religion is the answer claims atheist scientist

By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent

Lord May, the president of the British Science Association, said religion may have helped protect human society from itself in the past and it may be needed again.

Speaking on the eve of the association’s annual conference, the committed atheist said he was worried the world was on a “calamitous trajectory” brought on by its failure to co-ordinate measures against global warming.

He said that no country was prepared to take the lead and a “punisher” was needed to make sure the rules of co-operation were not broken.

The former Government chief scientific advisor said in the past that was God and it might be time again for religion to fill the gap.

“Maybe religion is needed,” said Lord May, who was brought up a Scottish Presbyterian but went through an "inverse epiphany" at the age of 11.
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/richard-alleyne/6146656/Maybe-religion-is-the-answer-claims-atheist-scientist.html

TAGGED: COMMENTARY, RELIGION, SCIENCE

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