Renowned geneticist encourages strength of faith alongside science

Renowned geneticist encourages strength of faith alongside science

On top of his duties as the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Francis Collins takes time to answer letters from Christians trying to reconcile their faith with science.

At a conference in March of BioLogos, the nonprofit he founded more than 10 years ago to bridge science and faith, Collins told an audience of 360 scientists, pastors and educators about an email he received recently from a man in Nigeria named Emanuel. 

Room for faith

Emanuel was raised in a conservative Christian home, but was studying to be a nurse and wrestling with whether he could hold on to his faith.

Collins told him he didn’t need to abandon his faith in order to understand what he was learning.

A renowned geneticist, Collins is recognized in faith circles not only for his scientific accomplishments — among them piloting the Human Genome Project — but for his seemingly unshakable faith in God.

That dedication to Christianity has earned him star power among a segment of evangelicals who are eager for a more nuanced approach to science — one that accepts the findings of evolution, for example, while also regarding the Bible as a source of ultimate authority.

BioLogos takes concrete steps to educate evangelicals about science in a way that makes room for their faith. It has recently launched a podcast and is working on curricula for homeschoolers and Christian schools that are scientifically rigorous and true to the Christian faith.

Collins may be the best Protestant diplomat for bridging the science-faith divide as Christians wrestle with modern technology such as CRISPR, the new tool for gene editing.

In an interview with Religion News Service, Collins said CRISPR has “moved to the top of the list in terms of its ethical consequences, that is gene editing in terms of modifying the germline, the part of the DNA that gets passed on from parent to child.”

The issue of altering the DNA of an embryo with the intention to produce a child with a different DNA structure is “crossing a profoundly significant line,” Collins said. 

“It has all kinds of issues of a practical sort: Can you do it, can you do it efficiently and is it safe? But it also has deeply significant ethical, philosophical, theological issues,” Collins said. “If we are made in God’s image, if we are fearfully and wonderfully made, as Psalm 139 says, are we really ready to take on the role of changing that?”

Enhance each other

The scientific and spiritual worldview can enhance each other, he said. 

“As a scientist I get a special privilege in the moment of discovery to say, ‘Oh wow. Look what I figured out and I can tell everyone else I know it,’ but also, ‘Look at this glimpse I just got of God’s mind and what a gift that is.’ So I think Christians bring that sense of curiosity and vision and awe,” he said. 

“Whether it’s adding to the body of knowledge of how life works … or whether it’s more applied and prevents a child from suffering, that feels like a calling that every Christian deep down experiences, and here is a chance to play that out in this wonderful team spirit of scientific investigations of nature.” (RNS)