Customer Reviews

Charlie Rose with Garry Kasparov & Stephen Cohen, Francis Collins (July 25, 2006)

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It was with particular pleasure that I watched Francis Collins speak to Charlie Rose about his own religious faith, and his understanding of the relationship between Science and Religion. Collins tells how he came from a family of non- believers but in the course of his medical residency came into contact with people who had strong faith even as they were enduring great sufferings. He tells about the influence of C.S. Lewis book 'Mere Christianity' upon him. He also gives examples in which he says human moral action goes beyond what we would expect were were we driven only by the laws of natural selection, and the evolutionary process.
Collins says that he while not having absolute proof for the existence of God, sees that idea as far more plausible than the idea of no God. He points to the precision in the laws of nature, and again the moral character of humans. He says Science can tell us how Nature works but cannot answer the 'Why' question.
Rose at some point injects two clips one of James Watson arrogantly chuckling to himself in ridicule of the possibility of taking seriously belief in God. In the other Richard Dawkins says he is against 'faith' because he believes children should be educated to believe only in that which there is evidence for.
Collins answers Dawkins brilliantly. He says he also believes that children should be taught to look for evidence for their beliefs. He however points out that not all evidence is scientific. And he points out that the questions which go beyond nature cannot be addressed by the scientific method.
Collins says that he believes that atheists cannot possibly justify their position. As I understand this he means that they claim to know what no one can know. He says that agnostics have a justifiable position, but a pale one. Most agnostics are people he says who do not wish to deal seriously with the question. I do not know if that is right or fair He says quite beautifully that his own scientific work is a means for him to better understand God's creation. This is the way he sees it. He goes on to talk of the medical hopes given by the Genome project.
As someone whose whole life and hope in life is bound up with the idea of service of God, and at the same time as one who wishes to understand and know , to find and discover 'truth' wherever that search leads me, I found the words of Francis Collins a source of encouragement and strength.