Francis Collins

In The Life of Meaning, the chapter by Francis Collins is entitled "Discovering Things Nobody Knew Before But God." Collins directed the Human Genome Project at the National Institutes of Health. Collins also wrote The Language of God, in which he described how he came to believe in God. See also the review by Stephen M. Barr in the December, 2006, issue of First Things.

In this chapter he says,

I think there's a common assumption that you cannot be both a rigorous, show-me-the-data scientist and a person who believes in a personal God. I would like to say that from my perspective that assumption is incorrect, that, in fact, these two areas are entirely compatible and not only can exist within the same person, but can exist in a very synthetic way, and not in a compartmentalized way.

Collins goes on to discuss evolution, which he accepts, and intelligent design, which he believes is a misguided perspective. He discourages dualism and worries about the trends towards increasing secularism on side and an unscientific fundamentalism on the other. He adds,

We need science if we are going to survive in a complicated world ... and we need faith to keep ourselves in perspective.

Collins has found an admirable position, one that doesn't pit science versus religion (or Darwin vs. God). He accepts the limitations of science and realizes that something else is needed to get at the truth. It is unfortunate that so many scientists do not (cf. The Ends of Science by Eric Cohen in the November 2006 issue of First Things.)