Francis Collins

The biologist cited in Faith is Not Blind as a case of reason pointing toward faith rather than replacing it. The Hafens recount that Collins led the international project that, in 2000, produced the first complete map of the human DNA code — which he described as “the language in which God created life.” They quote his argument that “belief in God can be an entirely rational choice” and that “the principles of faith are complementary with the principles of science,” reinforced by the observation that the earth holds, in exactly the right proportions, the fifteen physical constants needed to sustain complex life — a combination so improbable that, for Collins, “faith in God [is] more rational than disbelief.” In the book he sits alongside Henry Eyring’s The Faith of a Scientist as the anchor of the God is a Scientist thread.

Context: Francis Collins is a physician-geneticist who directed the Human Genome Project, later served as director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, and wrote The Language of God arguing for the compatibility of science and Christian faith.

Where this appears

• Faith is Not Blind — cited for the human genome as “the language in which God created life” and reason pointing toward faith