Ayala wins Templeton Prize

Geneticist Franciso Ayala has won the Templeton Prize for work that advances both science and religion. Ayala argues the two are not incompatible - essentially, one asks how and the other asks why.
This drew the normal virulent protests from people like strident atheist Richard Dawson, who argues it demeans science to connect it at all with the "fantasy" of religion. What amuses me here is that Dawson uses the same approach for which he slams religious thinkers - the argument from authority. A religious thinker might say, "I KNOW there is a God, therefore all thinking proceeds from that point." Dawson's view is, "I KNOW there is NOT a God - therefore all thinking proceeds from that point."
I'm with Ayala on this one.