شئ من الفلسفة : Believe it, or not

torontosun.canoe.ca

Marianne Meed WardSun, August 27, 2006

Believe it, or not

Religion Presenting evidence about a belief system seems to go against the nature of faith
By MARIANNE MEED WARD

I'm always a little skeptical when people try to present "evidence" for belief. Faith, by definition, exists precisely because there is no proof. So it was with some reserve that I read about a new book by renowned scientist Francis Collins titled The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence For Belief.

The world knows Collins as the former head of the National Human Genome Research Institute in the U.S., which decoded human DNA. It's arguably the most significant scientific exercise ever undertaken: The more clues we get about our DNA, the more diseases we can cure.

People in Toronto will remember Collins as one of the team of researchers that identified the gene for cystic fibrosis in 1989. That's the first step in finding a cure.

In matters of faith, Collins has had an interesting journey. Once an atheist, he says his scientific work -- and the faith of his terminally ill patients -- helped him to find God. Now Collins is one of the more famous members of the American Scientific Association, a group of about 3,000 scientists who believe both in God and in science. Their four-point statement of faith wonderfully captures the unique aspects of faith and science, and where they intersect.

The group believes the Bible is divinely inspired, trustworthy and authoritative in "matters of faith and conduct." The ASA doesn't make the mistake, as some Christians do, of turning the Bible into an authority on scientific matters.

On matters of science, the group believes that God created the universe and endowed it with "contingent order and intelligibility" which are the basis of scientific investigation. As stewards of what God has created, we are to use science "for the good of humanity." Collins has tried to do just that.

There's no question science can help or hinder humanity; but can it "prove" the existence of God?

Collins convincingly argues that science, at the very least, is compatible with belief in God. You don't need to choose one or the other. In fact, he calls the battle between science and faith one of the greatest "tragedies" of the last 100 years. People get hung up on the "creation versus evolution" debate, he says, and all the debate proves is that both sides fundamentally misunderstand the other.

On one side are scientists who basically adopt evolution as their faith, and think there's no need for God to explain life. On the other side are Christians who adopt a rigid, literal interpretation of the first book of the Bible and reject compelling scientific data about the age of the Earth. But Collins argues that Christians don't need to throw out science to believe in God, and scientists don't need to throw out God to believe in science.

I've always thought that, but it's nice to have a renowned scientist on my side.

Still, the initial question -- is there "evidence" for belief -- remains. Collins provides an interesting answer, though it won't satisfy everyone. The evidence hinges on what's called the "moral law:" The idea that humans know the difference between "right" and "wrong" (most of us anyway). That knowledge is the mother of altruism -- the urge to help others even at the expense of yourself. Altruism cannot have come from evolution, Collins argues -- evolution tells you to survive even at the expense of others. So it must have come from God.

Secondly, Collins argues the world is simply too complex to have Big Banged itself into existence. A God-creator must have got the ball rolling.

Ultimately, though, a leap of faith is still required. God cannot be proven. And that's as it should be, otherwise we'd call faith science.



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Collins

Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D.
Director
National Human Genome Research Institute

Senior Investigator
Genome Technology Branch


Selected Publications
Realizing the Promise of Genomics
in Biomedical Research
[jama.ama-#######.org]

Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., is the director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He led the successful effort to complete Human Genome Project (HGP), a complex multidisciplinary scientific enterprise directed at mapping and sequencing all of the human DNA, and determining aspects of its function. A working draft of the human genome sequence was announced in June of 2000, an initial analysis was published in February of 2001, and a high-quality, reference sequence was completed in April 2003. From the outset, the project ran ahead of schedule and under budget, and all the data is now available to the scientific community without restrictions on access or use.

Dr. Collins received a B.S. from the University of Virginia, a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Yale University, and an M.D. from the University of North Carolina. Following a fellowship in Human Genetics at Yale, he joined the faculty at the University of Michigan, where he remained until moving to NIH in 1993. His research has led to the identification of genes responsible for cystic fibrosis, neurofibromatosis, Huntington's disease and Hutchison-Gilford progeria syndrome. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences.

Full Biography

The Collins Lab

Office of the Director

Curriculum Vitae

Press Photos

Publications Related to the Human Genome Project
In Peer-Reviewed Scientific Journals
Hudson KL, Rothenberg KH, Andrews LB, Kahn MJE, Collins FS: Genetic discrimination and health insurance: An urgent need for reform. Science, 1995; 270:391-393.

Rothenberg, K, Fuller B, Rothstein M, Duster T, Kahn MJE, Cunningham R, Fine B, Hudson K, King MC, Murphy P, Swergold G, Collins FS. Genetic information and the workplace: legislative approaches and policy challenges. Science, 1997; 275:1755-1757.

Collins FS, Guyer MS, Chakravarti A. Variations on a theme: cataloging human DNA sequence variation. Science, 1997; 278:1580-1581.

Collins FS, Patrinos A, Jordan E, Chakravarti A, Gesteland R, Walters LR. New goals for the U.S. Human Genome Project: 1998-2003. Science, 1998; 282:682-689.

Collins FS, Brooks LD, Chakravarti A: A DNA polymorphism discovery resource for research on human genetic variation. Genome Research, 1998; 8:1229-1231.

Fuller BP, Ellis Kahn MJ, Barr PA, Biesecker L, Crowley E, Garber J, Mansoura MK, Murphy P, Murray J, Phillips J, Rothenberg K, Rothstein M, Stopfer J, Swergold G, Weber B, Collins FS, Hudson KL. Privacy in genetics research. Science, 1999; 285:1359-1361.

Strausberg RL, Feingold EA, Klausner RD, Collins FS. The mammalian gene collection. Science, 1999; 286:455-457.

International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium. Initial sequencing and analysis of the human genome. Nature 2001; 409:860-921

Wolfsberg TG, Wetterstrand KA, Guyer MS, Collins FS, Baxevanis AD. A user's gude to the human genome. Supplement to Nature Genetics, 2002; 32:2-79.

Guttmacher AG, Collins FS. Genomic Medicine - A Primer. New England Journal of Medicine, 2002; 19:1512-1520.

Mouse Genome Sequencing Consortium. Initial sequencing and comparative analysis of the mouse genome. Nature, 2002; 420:520-562.

Mohlke KL, Erdos MR, Scott LJ, Fingerlin TE, Jackson AU, Silander K, Hollstein P, Boehnke M, Collins FS. High-throughput screening for evidence of association by using mass spectrometry genotyping on DNA pools. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 2002; 99:16928-16933.

Mammalian Gene Collection (MGC) Program Team. Generation and initial analysis of more than 15,000 full-length and mouse cDNA sequences. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 2002; 99:16899-16903.

In Non Peer-Reviewed Journals
Collins FS. Shattuck Lecture - Medical and societal consequences of the Human Genome Project. New England Journal of Medicine, 1999; 341:28-37.

Collins FS. The Human Genome Project: tool of atheistic reductionism or embodiment of the Christian mandate to heal? Science & Christian Belief, 1999;11:99-111.

Collins FS, Jegalian KG. Deciphering the code of life. Scientific American, 1999; 281:86-91.

Collins FS, McKusick VA. Implications of the human genome project for medical science. JAMA, 2001; 285:540-544.

Collins FS. Contemplating the end of the beginning. Genome Research, 2001; 11:64-643

Collins FS, Weiss L, Hudson K. Heredity and humanity: Have no fear. Genes aren't everything. New Republic, 2001; June 25:27-29.

Collins, FS, Guttmacher AE. Genetics moves into the medical mainstream. JAMA 2001; 286:2322-2326.

Collins FS. Foreword. Pharmacogenomics: social, ethical and clinical dimensions. Edited by Mark A. Rothstein. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 2003; ix-x.

Collins FS. Genomics: the coming revolution in medicine. Global Agenda, Magazine of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2003; 152-154.

Grady, PA, Collins FS. Guest Editorial: Genetics and Nursing Science - Realizing the Potential. Nursing Research, March/April 2003; 52:69.

Insel TR, Collins FS. Commemorations: Psychiatry in the Genomics Era. American Journal of Psychiatry, 2003; 160/4:616-620.

Collins FS, Morgan M, Patrinos A. Viewpoint: The Human Genome Project: Lessons from Large-Scale Biology. Science, 2003; 300:286-290.

Collins FS, Green ES, Guttmacher AE, Guyer MS. A vision for the future of genomics research. Nature, 2003; 422:835-847.

Jenkins J, Collins FS. Are you genetically literate? American Journal of Nursing, 2003; 103:13

Collins, FS. Faith and the human genome. 2002 ASA Annual meeting plenary address. Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith, 2003; 55:142-153.

Collins, FS. Genome Research: The Next Generation. Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology, The Genome of Homo sapiens, 2003, Vol 68 [in press]

Guttmacher, AE, Collins FS. Welcome to the genomic era. Editorial: New England Journal of Medicine, 2003; 349:996-998.

Books
Gelehrter TD, Collins FS, Ginsburg D: Principles of Medical Genetics. Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, 2nd edition, 1998.