ESSAY Where Science and Religion Intersect : The Work of Ian Stevenson

For most people, the word ‘‘fundamentalism’’ mainly evokes images of Islamic terrorists or Christian mega-churches and revivalist tents; but in the battle for people’s hearts and minds, scientific fundamentalists have become equally as vocal and strident—and perhaps even more arrogant—in promoting their beliefs and assumptions about the nature of reality. As a result, the polarization between the two sides seems to be steadily deepening. The well-known Templeton Prize—officially called the ‘‘Templeton Prize for Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities’’—is described on its web site as an award meant to recognize and encourage those who, ‘‘particularly through scientific research, serve to supplement the wonderful ancient scriptures and traditions of all the world’s religions.’’ The goal, apparently, is to try to break down the traditional antagonism between science and religion, and many Templeton Prize winners have been scientists who have written about the implications of modern science for a spiritual understanding of the universe. For several years, beginning in 2000, we nominated Ian Stevenson for the Templeton Prize, believing that no one exemplifies better than he what we understood to be one of the Templeton Foundation’s primary purposes—to bring the empirical methods of science to bear on fundamental spiritual questions. Regrettably, he was never given the award. Nevertheless, we remain convinced that no one in modern times has done more than he to lead the way toward finding a scientifically defensible yet humanly meaningful middle path between the fundamentalisms that threaten to engulf us. In what follows we amplify this statement using a slightly modified version of what we sent to the Templeton Foundation in support of Ian’s nomination.