Science/Religion Very Compatable for Genome Code Lead Scientist
Science and religion are in conflict. That's what we so often hear from the "intellectual elite." However, the lead scientist on the human genome project, and former atheist now has a different take. "I’ve found God," says Francis Collins, the director of the US National Human Genome Research Institute. He claims there is a rational basis for a creator and that scientific discoveries bring man “closer to God”. From the London Sunday Times...
His book, The Language of God, to be published in September, will reopen the age-old debate about the relationship between science and faith. “One of the great tragedies of our time is this impression that has been created that science and religion have to be at war,” said Collins, 56.
For Collins, unravelling the human genome did not create a conflict in his mind. Instead, it allowed him to “glimpse at the workings of God”.
“When you have for the first time in front of you this 3.1 billion-letter instruction book that conveys all kinds of information and all kinds of mystery about humankind, you can’t survey that going through page after page without a sense of awe. I can’t help but look at those pages and have a vague sense that this is giving me a glimpse of God’s mind.”
Collins joins a line of scientists whose research deepened their belief in God. Isaac Newton, whose discovery of the laws of gravity reshaped our understanding of the universe, said: “This most beautiful system could only proceed from the dominion of an intelligent and powerful being.”
Although Einstein revolutionised our thinking about time, gravity and the conversion of matter to energy, he believed the universe had a creator. “I want to know His thoughts; the rest are details,” he said.
Among Collins’s most controversial beliefs is that of “theistic evolution”, which claims natural selection is the tool that God chose to create man. In his version of the theory, he argues that man will not evolve further.
“I see God’s hand at work through the mechanism of evolution. If God chose to create human beings in his image and decided that the mechanism of evolution was an elegant way to accomplish that goal, who are we to say that is not the way,” he says.
“Scientifically, the forces of evolution by natural selection have been profoundly affected for humankind by the changes in culture and environment and the expansion of the human species to 6 billion members. So what you see is pretty much what you get.”
His epiphany came when he went hiking through the Cascade Mountains in Washington state. He said: “It was a beautiful afternoon and suddenly the remarkable beauty of creation around me was so overwhelming, I felt, ‘I cannot resist this another moment’.”
Collins believes that science cannot be used to refute the existence of God because it is confined to the “natural” world. In this light he believes miracles are a real possibility.
I read another statistical analysis that said the odds of what we have on Earth happening randomly was 10 to the 100th power. As a statistician, I can appreciate the rarity of those odds. Just from statistical standpoint, it seems that the odds of there being an intelligent creater have to be better than that. It also points out that it takes just as much faith in absence of evidence to believe everything just happened randomly. This is why the intelligent design debate cannot be swept aside.
His book, The Language of God, to be published in September, will reopen the age-old debate about the relationship between science and faith. “One of the great tragedies of our time is this impression that has been created that science and religion have to be at war,” said Collins, 56.
For Collins, unravelling the human genome did not create a conflict in his mind. Instead, it allowed him to “glimpse at the workings of God”.
“When you have for the first time in front of you this 3.1 billion-letter instruction book that conveys all kinds of information and all kinds of mystery about humankind, you can’t survey that going through page after page without a sense of awe. I can’t help but look at those pages and have a vague sense that this is giving me a glimpse of God’s mind.”
Collins joins a line of scientists whose research deepened their belief in God. Isaac Newton, whose discovery of the laws of gravity reshaped our understanding of the universe, said: “This most beautiful system could only proceed from the dominion of an intelligent and powerful being.”
Although Einstein revolutionised our thinking about time, gravity and the conversion of matter to energy, he believed the universe had a creator. “I want to know His thoughts; the rest are details,” he said.
Among Collins’s most controversial beliefs is that of “theistic evolution”, which claims natural selection is the tool that God chose to create man. In his version of the theory, he argues that man will not evolve further.
“I see God’s hand at work through the mechanism of evolution. If God chose to create human beings in his image and decided that the mechanism of evolution was an elegant way to accomplish that goal, who are we to say that is not the way,” he says.
“Scientifically, the forces of evolution by natural selection have been profoundly affected for humankind by the changes in culture and environment and the expansion of the human species to 6 billion members. So what you see is pretty much what you get.”
His epiphany came when he went hiking through the Cascade Mountains in Washington state. He said: “It was a beautiful afternoon and suddenly the remarkable beauty of creation around me was so overwhelming, I felt, ‘I cannot resist this another moment’.”
Collins believes that science cannot be used to refute the existence of God because it is confined to the “natural” world. In this light he believes miracles are a real possibility.
I read another statistical analysis that said the odds of what we have on Earth happening randomly was 10 to the 100th power. As a statistician, I can appreciate the rarity of those odds. Just from statistical standpoint, it seems that the odds of there being an intelligent creater have to be better than that. It also points out that it takes just as much faith in absence of evidence to believe everything just happened randomly. This is why the intelligent design debate cannot be swept aside.
posted by Nordeaster | 9:39 AM
2 Comments:
Hmmm... After reading this once, I had to set it aside, go about my work and then come back to it. As a science geek, I'm perplexed at Collins' statement about '...who are we to say that is not the way'. Well, who are we to say that IS the way?
Secondly, if 'what you see is pretty much what you get', then how does one explain longevity? The sentence immediately before this statement precisely concludes that what you see is NOT what you get. At the creation of man, humans were surviving maybe into their 30's and people died of coughs and fever. Man's ability to reason, think and create has lead us to host of modifications and assistance for survival alone. I highly doubt Jonas Salk's work with the polio vaccination, and precedentally the original discovery of polio itself, was due to God or a higher power planting the thought in his brain.
And who is to say that what we have on earth did not (or does not)exist elsewhere? Perhaps we just haven't taken that leap to find it yet. Sorry, but I just can't fathom that the Pythagorean Theorom originated with Adam and that there is an ultimate puppet master dropping thoughts into people's heads.
Maybe that's why I attend Christmas services only for the music!
surgergrrl said..."And who is to say that what we have on earth did not (or does not)exist elsewhere?"
I don't think anything stated here contradicts that. Neither Collins or I make that assumption.
Assuming an intelligent creator, logic seems to dictate that this creator would not create a universe so vast only to put life in one microscopic dot of a place. It seems logical that there is, was and/or will be intelligent life elsewhere.
Regarding your point on longevity. I don't think there is a contradiction there either. Collins acknowledges an evolutionary process. His point is that the changes we have seen in the last couple thousand years, for example in longevity, are far more due to the effects of man on himself than due to the natural selection process. That is why our longengevity, height, etc has increased at a much more rapid pace over the same time than say great apes or dolphins.
surfergrrl said..."I just can't fathom that the Pythagorean Theorom originated with Adam"
I think that is exactly the point Collins is making. That the Pythagorean Theorum existed long before man or even matter.
"and that there is an ultimate puppet master dropping thoughts into people's heads."
There isn't anything in the article to state that Collins beleives this either. There is nothing that implies there is a manipulation of the creation process over time. Rather, there was a certain flexibility put into the process for elements to adapt slightly over time.
Collins only argument is that human life, the grand ecosystem of Earth, and the universe are so increadibly complex that it is much more likely that it was designed rather than happened by pure random chance.
Given the relatively small amount of hard evidence supporting either argument it takes a leap of faith to support either theory.
Your arguments appear confuse a scientific support for an intelligent designer and support espousing a specific religious doctrine. It is possible to believe in intelligent design without believing in Judaism, Christianity, Islam or whatever. That belief involves a second leap of faith.
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