Theistic Evolutionist Francis Collins Eyed to Lead NIH

Physician-geneticist Francis S. Collins, who successfully led efforts to map the human genetic code, is the top choice for the National Institutes of Health (NIH)’s next director, according to a source familiar with the selection process.

Screening for Collins is nearly complete and President Obama may announce his nomination as early as this week, the source reportedly told Bloomberg News, which broke the story.

Should he be tapped for the spot, Collins would be faced with calls to boost spending on cancer research and free science from politics as well as financial conflicts of interest.

As an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the NIH serves as the steward of medical and behavioral research for the country, providing leadership and direction to programs designed to improve the health of the nation by conducting and supporting research.

Currently, Raynard S. Kington is serving as the NIH acting director after Elias A. Zerhouni, former President Bush’s pick in 2002, stepped down at the end of October 2008.

Though neither Collins nor the White House have commented on the leak, those familiar with Collins’ work have hailed his candidacy.

Aside from his landmark discoveries of disease genes and his leadership of the Human Genome Project, Collins is known for his consistent emphasis on the importance of ethical and legal issues in genetics. He has been elected to the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom – the highest civilian honor given by the President – in November 2007.

Collins is also founder of the BiosLogos Foundation, which addresses the escalating culture war between science and faith in the United States.

As a Christian, Collins is a theist evolutionist – someone who believes classical religious teachings about God are compatible with the modern scientific understanding about biological evolution.

His 2006 book, The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief, spent 20 weeks on the New York Times bestsellers list and explained how he found harmony between the scientific and spiritual worldviews.

In the book, Collins also defended research on existing embryonic stem cells, though he has expressed opposition to purposely creating them for research.

Collins was present during the signing of an Executive Order by President Obama that reversed the government's ban on funding stem-cell research back in March.

>>Should he be tapped for the spot, Collins would be faced with calls to boost spending on cancer research and free science from politics as well as financial conflicts of interest.<<

I guess that means we’ll be spending more taxpayer dollars to find out what homosexuals and prostitutes do and why they do it. Of course, it will take millions, maybe billions to answer such complicated questions. (not sarcasm).

This is a surprise. While I think the whole genome project has been a bit oversold, I've liked Collins since I heard him give the 2001 Commencement Address at the University of Virginia. Here's an excerpt:

Decision number two: Well, this is the one that makes people squirm. What are you going to do about faith? Uh oh, not that one. But can there be any more important questions than these: How did we all get here? What is the meaning of life? How is it that we know deep-down inside what is right and wrong and yet rarely succeed in doing what is right for more than about thirty minutes? What happens to us after we die?
Surely these are among the most critical questions in life. And ones which a university should carefully consider. But how much time have you spent on them? Perhaps you, like I, grew up in a home where faith played a significant role, but you never made it your own. Or you concluded it was a fuzzy area that made you uncomfortable. Or even concluded that it was all superstition, like Mark Twain's schoolboy, who when requested to define faith said, 'It is believing what you know ain't so.' Or perhaps you simply assumed that as you grew in knowledge of science that faith was incompatible with a rigorous intellect and that God was irrelevant and obsolete. Well, I am here to tell you that this is not so.
All of those half-truths against the possibility of God have holes in them big enough to drive a truck through, as I learned by reading C.S. Lewis. In my view, there is no conflict between being a 'rigorous, show me the data' physician-scientist and a person who believes in a God who takes a personal interest in each one of us and whose domain is in the spiritual world. A domain not possible to explore by the tools and language and science, but with the heart, the mind and the soul.
Yet, it is remarkable how many of us fail to consider those questions of eternal significance until some personal crisis or advancing age forces us to face our own spiritual impoverishment. Don't make that mistake.

ML/NJ

Dr. Collins and I tend to think alike.

As a Christian and a (social) scientist, I believe that biological evolution is one of God’s tools to allow species to adapt to changing environments.

Darwin’s theory is relatively strong, but has holes like all theories. Intelligent Design is a quite resonable way of explaining many of those holes.

The Bible (IMO) was inspired by God but written by Man and translated from one language to another. I have no doubt that there are flaws in these translations and how we understand them.

It’s all about living with the eternal ambiguity of not knowing God’s mind. I call that “the human condition.”

Perhaps you should consider that not all American taxpayers have your first hand familiarity with prostitutes and homosexuals and consequently think a little federal spending to clarifying matters for the rest of us would be well spent(sarcasm).

It is worth noting that Christians that find their faith challenged by an evolutionist view and modern science are in the minority among practicing Christians and that Collins is a surprisingly good choice for this position.

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