A Scientist Who Believes in God

Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, talks about his faith in God.

He believes in theistic evolution (i.e. God created the universe, then set evolution in motion millions of years ago), and I disagree with him there, but this piece remains very instructive about how faith and science are not mutually exclusive.

Some excerpts from CNN:

As a believer, I see DNA, the information molecule of all living things, as God's language, and the elegance and complexity of our own bodies and the rest of nature as a reflection of God's plan.

I did not always embrace these perspectives. As a graduate student in physical chemistry in the 1970s, I was an atheist, finding no reason to postulate the existence of any truths outside of mathematics, physics and chemistry.

I had always assumed that faith was based on purely emotional and irrational arguments, and was astounded to discover, initially in the writings of the Oxford scholar C.S. Lewis and subsequently from many other sources, that one could build a very strong case for the plausibility of the existence of God on purely rational grounds.

Here, Dr. Collins briefly discusses his belief in theistic evolution:

So attaching oneself to such literal interpretations in the face of compelling scientific evidence pointing to the ancient age of Earth and the relatedness of living things by evolution seems neither wise nor necessary for the believer.

It's true that God COULD have used evolution as an engine for biological change. But the claims of evolution and an incredibly ancient earth are completely incompatible with the Bible. So when you carefully examine the theology of the Bible, you end up having to choose one or the other (as I did about 10 years ago). But their remain plenty of scientific explanations for the universe as we observe it, even explaining why some evidence can be incorrectly interpreted as supporting an ancient earth.

Dr. Collins' final word on the excitement and wonder of knowing the Creator and investigating His genius:

I have found there is a wonderful harmony in the complementary truths of science and faith. The God of the Bible is also the God of the genome. God can be found in the cathedral or in the laboratory. By investigating God's majestic and awesome creation, science can actually be a means of worship.