WITH so much debate on television and radio about science and religious belief, some readers will be interested to learn of the following curious fact.

Immediately after Neil Armstrong’s walk on the moon in 1969 and his “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” speech, his colleague Buzz Aldrin celebrated Holy Communion in the landing craft.

Buzz asked mission control for silence.

Then to mark this historic moment he took Holy Communion, which had been prepared for him in advance by his home church.

Quite literally the first bread consumed on the moon and the first wine drunk there were the elements of Holy Communion.

This symbolic act was deliberate. The astronaut was sending the world the message Christian belief and science are in harmony together.

Here he was at the cutting edge of science and yet at the same time a believer in God and a churchgoer.

Science merely tells us how God makes things work. The Bible tells us why we are here.

Many people in Britain imagine science and religious belief are incompatible but in reality, across the world, millions of scientists believe in God.

Even NASA has its own chaplain, with many of those involved in space research being regular churchgoers. No less than 20 per cent of the congregation of one local church works in some way for NASA.

These people see scientific discoveries as proof the universe has been designed by a supreme intelligence.

Science shows the nucleus of every cell in the human body contains as much data as that found in a set of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Such complexity cannot have happened by chance and is clear evidence of the existence of a Creator or God.

Sadly, whenever reference is made to science and religious belief in the British media it is often done so assuming there is conflict between the two.

The Rev J Willans, Surrey