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Francis Collins' Christianity Raises Hackles
By Jacqueline L. Salmon
Francis Collins, the evangelical Christian/geneticist nominated to head the National Institutes of Health, may not experience entirely smooth sailing in the job if he is confirmed.
Some other scientists are quietly expressing unease toward Collins, who has been public about his faith and has written a book, "The Language of God," in which he describes his conversion to Christianity as a 27-year-old medical student.
The fact that there are those in the scientific community who are less than enthusiastic about Collins may be explained by the fact that scientists' belief in God is far less pervasive than the general public. While 95 percent of the general public believes in God or a higher power, only 51 percent of scientists do, according to a recent survey by the Pew Center for People & the Press.
Collins also has a penchant for making enemies, according to David Ewing Duncan, director of the Center for Life Science Policy at the University of California at Berkeley, who blogs at Experimental Man.
But Collins has plenty of fans.
"Collins is not just a scientific leader, he's a Christian role model -- showing that being a believer doesn't mean checking your brain at the church door, that people of faith have just as much intellectual heft as seculars, and, most important,.how faith and science can happily co-exist." So raves Beliefnet founder/blogger Steve Waldman. (Collins is also a Beliefnet blogger).
He also wins accolades, naturally enough, from David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network. "I had always assumed that faith was based on purely emotional and irrational arguments, and was astounded to discover, initially in the writings of the Oxford scholar C.S. Lewis and subsequently from many other sources, that one could build a very strong case for the plausibility of the existence of God on purely rational grounds."
By
Jacqueline L. Salmon
|
July 13, 2009; 1:17 PM ET
| Category:
God in Government
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Posted by: HumanSimpleton | July 17, 2009 4:40 PM
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So there's talk that Francis Collins may be denied appointment to head the National Institutes of Health because of his expressed religious faith?
Oh, gee, isn't there a word for that? Starts with an "D"? Oh yeah, discrimination.
If Dr. Collins flubs up his performance by violating other people's First Amendment rights, then by all means sack him. But don't keep him from the job because he professes faith in Jesus Christ. That's not America.
Posted by: EinsteinsDaughter | July 13, 2009 4:36 PM
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Oh, gee, isn't that EINSTEINSDAUGHTER poster looking really ridiculous now?
This is what happens when you are a Christian. You nail yourself to the cross on any perceived slight and claim persecution.