{"id":36,"date":"2009-06-01T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-06-01T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/scienceandthesacred\/2009\/06\/creating-a-community-to-explore-the-harmony-of-science-and-faith.html"},"modified":"2014-05-19T09:16:32","modified_gmt":"2014-05-19T13:16:32","slug":"creating-a-community-to-explore-the-harmony-of-science-and-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/scienceandthesacred\/2009\/06\/creating-a-community-to-explore-the-harmony-of-science-and-faith.html","title":{"rendered":"Creating a Community to Explore the Harmony of Science and Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Margaret_Francis_2006.jpg\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Today would have been my mother’s 100th birthday. At her
\nmemorial service last year, family and friends sang “Will the Circle Be
\nUnbroken.” The verses powerfully captured the loss I felt as a grieving son,
\nbut the chorus offered reassurance: “Will the circle be unbroken, by and by,
\nLord, by and by? There’s a better home awaiting, in the sky, Lord, in the sky.”<\/p>\n

My mother had an amazing ability to recruit others to a
\nshared community. Along with my teacher\/scholar\/director\/musician dad, she
\ncreated an amazing community of theater, music and art in Virginia’s Shenandoah
\nValley. Being included meant being inspired to do more than you
\ndreamed that you could. It meant being welcomed right away and given an
\nimportant task. “Where community is real, there is communion,” mother wrote in
\nan essay. “Good things can happen. People talk to each other … There is zest. There
\nis laughter. There is even compassion.”<\/p>\n

As I reflect on her legacy, I wonder how we could put those
\nsame principles to work in encouraging a new and vibrant community dedicated to
\nfinding the truth in both science and faith. The shrill voices at the poles of
\nthe science and faith discussion that claim the scientific and spiritual
\nworldviews are incompatible have their own organized communities. But what about
\nthe vast majority that seeks a third way? What about the people who are
\nconvinced that science is a reliable way to understand the natural world, but
\nwho also seek answers through faith to more profound questions about the
\nmeaning of life and the existence of God?<\/p>\n

There are encouraging signs that people who trust both God
\nand science are beginning to create such a community. In the United Kingdom,
\nmolecular biologist Denis Alexander, biophysicist Alister McGrath and the Rev. John
\nPolkinghorne, a particle physicist, are turning out marvelously thought provoking
\nreflections on science and faith. In North America, astronomer Owen Gingerich, Denis
\nLamoureux,professor of science and religion at St. Joseph’s College in the University of Alberta, and biologists Kenneth Miller and Jeff Schloss are doing the same. And in November, The BioLogos Foundation will bring together scientists, theologians and pastors to pave the way for a science-informed theology that celebrates God’s goodness and creative power and to develop a more cohesive
\nstrategy to explore this “third way.”<\/p>\n

These are just initial efforts to help catalyze a community devoted to seeking
\nharmony in science and faith. We’d love to hear any ideas that could help in
\nbuilding this community and welcome discussion in the comments section below.<\/p>\n

My mother detailed her own struggles to merge her love for the artistic world, her dedication to reason and her intimations of the spirit in her journal. “To believe in God”, she wrote, “is not to comfort your soul with an easy immortality, nor to put aside
\nthe world of the flesh, but to understand that in God’s eyes life or death is
\nof little consequence.” For a time she was deeply troubled by this realization.
\n“And I closed the door and went away awhile, pretending I hadn’t seen. And I
\nwent another way, in another direction, running — but soon running toward <\/em>not away — toward other annunciations, other journeys, other adorations. Only a few days ago, I find I have come upon the closed door from another direction, and the door is open, and there is nothing to fear.”<\/p>\n

Dr. Francis Collins is former director of the Human Genome Project and founder and president of The BioLogos Foundation<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Share<\/a>
\n|<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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With Collins at the helm, the Human Genome Project produced a finished sequence of human DNA in 2003. He then used this new data to help create powerful tools and strategies to advance biological knowledge about humans and improve their health. Along with his research, Collins has also stressed the importance of considering the ethical and legal issues surrounding genetics. Collins founded the BioLogos Foundation in November 2007 and served as its president until nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the United States Senate as the 16th Director of the National Institutes of Health. He resigned from the BioLogos Foundation on August 16, 2009, and was sworn in as NIH Director the following day. Formerly an atheist, Collins became a Christian in his 20s after realizing his perspective did not provide answers to profound questions about the meaning of life and was inconsistent with observations about the nature of the universe and humankind. He wrote about finding harmony between the scientific and spiritual worldviews in The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief, which spent 20 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. Collins coined the term BioLogos to define the conclusions he reached about how life, or bios, came about through God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s word, or logos. DNA, therefore, may be considered God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s language. Collins received a Bachelor of Science from the University of Virginia, a doctorate in physical chemistry from Yale University and a medical degree from The University of North Carolina. He was elected to the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences, and in November 2007 was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor given by the president, for revolutionizing genetic research. Collins gives frequent lectures about science and faith on college campuses that regularly attract more than 1,000 people. 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