{"id":5378,"date":"2009-07-09T16:00:09","date_gmt":"2009-07-09T16:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/2009\/07\/science-faith-and-the-public-s.html"},"modified":"2009-07-09T16:00:09","modified_gmt":"2009-07-09T16:00:09","slug":"science-faith-and-the-public-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/07\/science-faith-and-the-public-s.html","title":{"rendered":"Science, Faith and the Public Sphere (RJS)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Francis_Collins_pic.jpg\"<\/span><\/p>\n

For those who don’t follow such news with bated breath – President Obama has nominated Francis Collins to head up the NIH (National Institutes of Health).  This is, in my opinion, a great choice.  He is an accomplished scientist and administrator.  You can see the NY Times article here: Pick to Lead Health Agency Draws Praise and Some Concern<\/a>. (Photo to right from BioLogos Site<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

I’ve been following some of the discussion over the last several months as the prospect of Collins’s selection has been a matter of gossip and speculation.  I have no NIH funding, the research we do is not sufficiently closely tied to human health concerns, although I have had NIH funding in the past.  So my interest is indirect – anything good for science is good for all science on some level.<\/p>\n

I think that the concerns expressed in the article over the hype of the Human Genome Project and its lack of success (on which the jury will be out for a long while yet) is a red herring. Hype is common in science and all of his critics know it and practice it themselves.<\/p>\n

But of course Collins is drawing attention for other reasons as well –
\nmost significantly his book The Language of God<\/a>\"\" and his outspoken Christian
\nstand.<\/p>\n

I find it interesting that there are a few
\ndifferent concerns common around the web<\/b><\/i>.     <\/p>\n

Some – a relatively small number  – hold that religion is fundamentally inconsistent with good thinking and thus anyone who holds to a religious belief is suspect for fuzzy brain.<\/p>\n

Some fear that religious belief –> theocracy —> undermines freedom, democracy, good science.<\/p>\n

Some fear that appointing him, no matter how good he is, will lend credence to faith as a valid option!<\/p>\n

Some fear that appointing him will mislead our youth into thinking that evolution is consistent with faith (from the evangelical side).<\/p>\n

I will avoid quoting from blogs and comments on articles here <\/b><\/i>– but I expect the conversation will become rather heated in some arenas.<\/p>\n

What gets me is the suggestion by some that his “Biologos foundation” because
\nit seeks to promote a synthesis of science and faith is a conflict of
\ninterest – an “unwanted incursion of religion into the public sphere.” 
\nI also think it interesting that Collins has been an Obama supporter
\nfor quite awhile, yet appointing him raises fears of a return of “the
\ntheocracy of George W. Bush” and a cave-in to the religious right.<\/p>\n

What do you think?<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For those who don’t follow such news with bated breath – President Obama has nominated Francis Collins to head up the NIH (National Institutes of Health).  This is, in my opinion, a great choice.  He is an accomplished scientist and administrator.  You can see the NY Times article here: Pick to Lead Health Agency Draws…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":297,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gospel"],"yoast_head":"\nScience, Faith and the Public Sphere (RJS) - Jesus Creed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/07\/science-faith-and-the-public-s.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Science, Faith and the Public Sphere (RJS) - Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For those who don’t follow such news with bated breath – President Obama has nominated Francis Collins to head up the NIH (National Institutes of Health).  This is, in my opinion, a great choice.  He is an accomplished scientist and administrator.  You can see the NY Times article here: Pick to Lead Health Agency Draws…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/07\/science-faith-and-the-public-s.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-07-09T16:00:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/files\/import\/imgs\/Francis_Collins_pic.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jesus Creed Admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Science, Faith and the Public Sphere (RJS) - 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