E.O Wilson, the venerable Harvard evolutionary biologist, award-winning author, and defender of biodiversity, has decided to dive into the debate of science vs. religion.

And he’s critical of the debate. Earlier this evening in Harvard Square, he was plugging his new book, The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth, which argues that rather than taking one side (anti-religion) or the other (anti-science), the two camps need to call a truce and work together towards the common goal of saving the planet.

He criticized the warring factions, calling the likes of Richard Dawkins (the Oxford scientist who fiercely attacks religion) “warriors” and people like Francis Collins (the NIH scientist who is religious and argues that it’s possible to be a religious scientist) “wimps.”

Instead, Wilson is choosing to take a more pragmatic approach to bridging the divide between science and religion. “Let’s stop fussing about where it [life on Earth] came from. It’s there. Let’s save it.” Rather than attack the evangelicals, he says the better way is to engage them in an inviting manner, with “a friendly voice,” he said. Only then might it be possible to convince some to move away from extreme fundamentalism, he said.

At least one person at the microphone was skeptical about whether this could happen, but Wilson seems optimistic. If he can talk as passionately about reaching out to the religious community as he does about biodiversity and conservation, he might have a shot.