Posted on 08/07/2006 7:38:00 AM PDT by SmithL
Science and religion have long had an uneasy relationship, at best. But Dr. Francis S. Collins believes the two can coexist happily and that a scientist can worship God equally well in a cathedral or a laboratory.
Collins, a physician-geneticist, led the Human Genome Project, an international research initiative that mapped all 3.1 billion base pairs in human DNA. The monumental project took a crew of scientists deep inside the uncharted landscape of the human body. At the end, they had what amounts to a blueprint for building a human being and a unique reference to use in developing diagnoses, treatments and, ultimately, ways to prevent genetic diseases. Collins is now the director of the National Human Genome Research Institute.
Once a staunch atheist and now a devout Christian, Collins puts forth in his book "The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief" (Free Press, July 2006) the idea that "belief in God can be an entirely rational choice, and the principles of faith are, in fact, complementary with the principles of science." I spoke with him by phone last week from his home in Rockville, Maryland.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
They're going to have to coexist because neither is going anywhere.
Whoops, missed that end quote during my first reading. Was wondering why God would choose Maryland.
"Why do you think God would do that? What is the purpose of it?"
"Well, now we are into a really difficult question, which is trying to understand God's motivations, and I don't think I am qualified to have a clue about that. But I think any religion that people believe in has within it the idea that humans are in search of God, and that God is interested in our being in search of him. So if you accept that idea, then the mechanism by which he could carry that out could be almost anything, but I think in this case it was evolution."
"So you think evolution pleases God in some way?"
Pretty good article. Lessens some stress to the whole Evolution/Creation debate.
Absolutely.
"Why do you think God would do that? What is the purpose of it?"
"Well, now we are into a really difficult question, which is trying to understand God's motivations, and I don't think I am qualified to have a clue about that. But I think any religion that people believe in has within it the idea that humans are in search of God, and that God is interested in our being in search of him. So if you accept that idea, then the mechanism by which he could carry that out could be almost anything, but I think in this case it was evolution."
"So you think evolution pleases God in some way?"
"Absolutely."
(Pretty good article. Lessens some stress to the whole Evolution/Creation debate.)
Must We Have a Separation of Church and Science?
Listen to this story...
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5617850
Talk of the Nation, August 4, 2006 · Can a world class scientist also be a devout Christian? Some big names in science say "absolutely." But balancing a scientific career with religious beliefs does involve some challenges.
Guests
Francis Collins, author The Language of God; director, National Human Genome Research Institute (National Institutes of Health)
Owen Gingerich, author, God's Universe (forthcoming from Harvard University Press); senior astronomer emeritus, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory; research professor emeritus (astronomy and history of science) Harvard University
bttt
I thought he just left Chicago and he's bound for New Orleans.
Good book.
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