On scientists who believe in God

I think many scientists, particularly at a very senior level, are very, very reluctant to talk about matters of faith because they feel that they will be vilified, or that they will be facing all kinds of political issues in the universities. And therefore there’s a lot of evidence to suggest that many scientists who do have religious views will simply keep quiet about them. And I deeply regret that we live in an academic environment where people are unable to talk about these things when they clearly matter. 

But we’ve got to be very, very careful not to assume that because people feel that they cannot talk about these things, that actually they have no faith. Most of my colleagues who have religious views who are active scientists in effect will keep them to themselves and not talk about them, because they fear the cultural climate of the moment. I regret that. I think we need a much more open academic environment where we can talk about these things and maybe one day that will happen.