ST, July 25, 2006
Top scientist asks sceptics to probe existence of God
LEADING scientist Francis Collins led the international Human
Genome Project that mapped the 3.1 billion chemical base pairs in
humanity's DNA, and is an unlikely convert from atheism to
evangelical Christianity.
The 56-year-old Collins recently addressed the clash of science and
religion during a conference at Williams College in Williamstown,
Massachusetts.
But his most complete argument for God appears in a new book, The
Language Of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief, which
addresses two radically divergent audiences: He asks scientific
sceptics to investigate God with the same open-minded zeal they
apply to the natural world. And he tells fellow evangelicals that
opposition to evolution undermines the credibility of faith.
But scientists are probably the tougher audience.
According to Nature, the science weekly, 'many scientists disagree
strongly' with Collins-style arguments and critics feel 'more talk
of religion is the last thing that science needs'.
As a medical student, Dr Collins wondered why patients who were
suffering and dying retained faith in God.
He realised that as a scientist, 'you are not supposed to decide
something is true until you have looked at the data. And yet I had
become an atheist without ever looking at the evidence whether God
exists or not'.
