Cool things do happen at work from time to time...

Oooo... Francis is here :) Francis Collins, that is. His lab shares space with our lab, so he drops in from time to time. He's an incredibly accomplished scientist (and Christian) who until recently was the director of our institute (National Human Genome Research Institute) and was the head of the Human Genome Project. He's now under consideration for the directorship of the entire NIH (our institute is one of 27 institutes that make up the NIH). He also discovered the CFTR gene (cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator gene) that is mutated in cystic fibrosis patients, which makes his accomplishments a little more special to me since he started the wave of research that may one day produce a cure for CF, which our niece Lacy was diagnosed with when she was 8 months old (for those of you who don't already know that). On top of his scientific accomplishments, he's also a really down-to-earth guy who plays guitar at all our institute functions and rides a motorcycle and writes books about faith and science. He advocates a synthesis of evolution and creation that he's actually named (BioLogos) and he has started a foundation for the advancement of the idea. Whether or not you believe its basic tenets, I find it so heartwarming to see a very famous scientist using the platform he's been given to promote harmony between science and religion. It's something that really ticks me off as someone who "straddles both sides of the fence" - the fact that everyone seems to see a fence there where there isn't one. Both sides insist on separating themselves from the other, as if God didn't create the world that we explore through science - as if science is somehow anti-God, and as if God didn't create us to explore and discover his creation. It's absurd. I understand where it originated, and I understand that there will always be scientists who refuse religion, but there need not be any Christian who refuses science as a discipline. Argue over the data - that's fine - but so many Christians have come to see science in general as an enemy (an extreme example being the people who won't give their kids medicine when they're sick) and it hinders the REAL discussion that we as Christians should be having about science. It keeps us from asking questions like "WHY do we interpret this passage this way? Is there another way to interpret it? What makes us think we "know" the right way to interpret it?" because we have this perception that we must keep a united front against the evils of scientific progress. We're so afraid that we'll "show weakness" by considering the evidence from God's creation that we forget all about the fact that God is the one who put the evidence there for us to find in the first place. It's like we're telling God "No no, WE know what you meant, and you need not show us anything new to help us understand better. WE GOT IT." Absurd.

Anyway, seeing Francis just made me think of that, so I thought I'd share while I'm bored. I just think that what he's doing is so wonderful. Like I said, whether you agree with the details or not, we NEED more scientists and theologians to step up to the plate and start trying to bridge this artificial gap we've created between science and religion.