On God

I have often been accused of being optimistic. In the early days of the Human Genome Project, some very wise people predicted that this audacious project would end in failure. But as the leader of the effort from 1993 until its conclusion in 2003 (ahead of schedule and under budget, no less), I never doubted that the best and brightest minds that were recruited to work on this historic project would prevail. And they did.

So my faith in the ability of science to answer questions about nature paid off. But that is not the most important area where faith is part of my life. After spending my young years as an atheist, I became convinced through reading the logical arguments of C.S. Lewis and the words of the Bible that belief in God was more plausible than atheism. After two years of struggle, I became a Christian at age twenty-seven. Since then, my faith in God has been the rock on which I stand, a means to answer critical questions on which science remains silent: What is the meaning of life? Is there a God? Do our concepts of right and wrong have any real foundation? What happens after we die?

As one of a large number of scientists who believe in God, I find it deeply troubling to watch the escalating culture wars between science and faith, especially in America. A spate of angry books by atheists, many of them using the compelling evidence of Darwin’s theory of evolution as a rhetorical club over the heads of believers, argues that atheism is the only rational choice for a thinking person. Some go so far as to label religious faith as the root of all evil and insinuate that parents who teach their children about religion are committing child abuse.

Partially in response to these attacks, believers, especially evangelical Christians, have targeted evolution as godless and incompatible with the truths of the Bible. Many Americans see Earth as less than 10,000 years old, a “young Earth” belief that clashes with mountains of data from cosmology, physics, chemistry, geology, paleontology, anthropology, biology, and genetics. Intelligent Design, which proposes that evolution is insufficient to account for complexity, enjoys wide support in the church despite rejection in the scientific community.

What a sad situation. Are we not all seeking the truth? That is what God calls us to. It seems unlikely that God, the author of all creation, is threatened by what science is teaching us about the awesome complexity and grandeur of His creation. Can God be well served by lies about nature, no matter how noble the intentions of those who spread them?

The current circumstance is not tenable over the long run. Despite their claims to hard-nosed objectivity, atheists have gone wildly outside the evidence by declaring God imaginary. They are proposing an impoverished perspective that will not satisfy most of their intended converts. For their part, fundamentalists who demand acceptance of an unilateral interpretation of Genesis are making that a litmus test for true faith, which wise theologians over the centuries have not found necessary.

Could we not step back from the unloving rhetoric of these entrenched positions and seek a new path towards truth? If science is a way of uncovering the details of God’s creation, then it may actually be a form of worship. Did not God, in giving us the intelligence to ask and answer questions about nature, expect us to use it? We should be able to learn about God in the laboratory as well as in the cathedral.

The shrill voices at the extremes of this debate have had the microphone for too long. Although they will no doubt continue to rail against each other, the rest of us should find ways to bring together scientists who are open to spiritual truths, theologians who are ready to embrace scientific findings about the universe, and pastors who know the real concerns and needs of their flocks. Together, in a loving and worshipful attitude, we could formulate a new and wondrous natural theology. This kind of theology celebrates God as the creator, embraces His majestic universe from the far-flung galaxies to the “fearfully and wonderfully made” nature of humanity, and accepts and incorporates the marvelous things that God has given us the chance to discover through science.

If we make a serious and prayerful attempt to do this together, perhaps in a few years this new “celebration theology” could eliminate the conflict between science and faith. God didn’t start that conflict. We did. I may sound unrealistic, even a bit of a Pollyanna, by proposing that we could draw this unnecessary battle to a close. But, I remind you, I have often been accused of being optimistic.  

Dr. Collins, a physician and geneticist, was leader of the Human Genome Project, which in 2003 produced a map of human DNA. He has served at the North Carolina Memorial Hospital, Yale University, and the University of Michigan. He helped pioneer the search for disease genes and is active in the ethical and legal issues of genetic information. He is the recent author of The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief.
  

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