There is a place for religion but it has no relevance to science, according to a local professor of mathematics.
'If you are in the religious domain then stay there, don't try to comment on science,' said Chan Kwing-lam, from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
Professor Chan said he was religiously inclined 'towards Catholicism or something like that', but he rejected the bulk of John Polkinghorne's arguments as being based on opinion, not logic.
Physicists' convictions about the existence of unseen quarks and gluons were a 'totally different paradigm' from religious faith in a divine power.
'You don't have to see something to know that it exists. A blind person does not need to see his mother to know she exists,' he said. 'For the scientist, knowledge comes through the ability to test. You can believe in something but whether it can be subjected to testing, that is the question.
'When scientists discover new things, they do feel a sense of wonder. But this doesn't imply that they are worshipping a supreme being.'