Religion and the absolute

I found an interesting online interview with John Haught. Here is one quote that caught my attention, regarding the relationship between science and religion. I like what he says here because it summarizes what I think captures the meaning and purpose of religion generally; and when he talks about a "sense of the absolute" that transcends religious boundaries, it reminds me of the theology of John Hick:

So something religious is going on even in scientific work, not in the scientific information itself but in the commitment to the idea that the universe is intelligible and truth is worth seeking. Those are religious convictions. You can’t prove scientifically that truth is worth seeking, but it’s the conviction that it is worth seeking that underlies all good science. Religion lifts this up and makes it more explicit. It symbolically names that depth, that truth, that meaning, and refers to it in Western theology as God or Allah, or in Eastern thought as Brahman or Tao. People have always had different names in different cultures for this sense of an absolute that gives significance to their lives. The evidence for this dimension is not the same as scientific evidence, but I would not say that religion is simply a leap into the dark. Something tangibly and palpably grabs hold of religious people. We can call it “mystery” just to give it a general name.