WASHINGTON (AP) _ An evolutionary geneticist and philosopher has won this year’s $1.5 million Templeton Prize for affirming life’s spiritual dimension.

Francisco Ayala, a former priest, has written 30 books explaining evolution and refuting its critics.

He recently visited the Creation Museum in Kentucky and called its biblical displays ridiculous, and he argues that nature’s defects are better explained by unguided evolution than intelligent design.

But Ayala says religion can explain life’s meaning and how people should relate to each other and the natural world, while science only explains how things work.

The 76-year-old Ayala is a U.S. citizen originally from Spain.

Past winners of the Templeton Prize include physicists, cosmologists, Mother Teresa and Billy Graham.