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Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D., works as the director of the Genome Institute and he says from what he has observed in his work, he is convinced there is a God. Read the CNN article here.


Kim DeLeary
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A certainly understand Dr. Collins' fascination with the underlying order and elegance of physics, and I sympathize with, if not share, his desire for comforting answers to life's most difficult questions. However, attributing human characteristics such as intelligence to said order, and jumping to the conclusion that the the only story that could possibly explain it all is the belief system that he was raised with as a child (i.e. Christianity) doesn't sound like he performed a very thorough investigation, whatever his profession might be.

In any case, his beliefs are atypical among biological scientists, according to a variety of studies. For example, A 1996 survey conducted by the international weekly science journal Nature found that outright disbelief in God and immortality among National Academy of Sciences biological scientists was 65.2% and 69.0%, respectively, and among National Academy of Sciences physical scientists it was 79.0% and 76.3%. Most of the remaining scientists surveyed were agnostics on both issues, with few believers. The highest percentage of belief was among mathematicians (14.3% in God, 15.0% in immortality), while biological scientists had the lowest rate of belief (5.5% in God, 7.1% in immortality), with physicists and astronomers slightly higher (7.5% in God, 7.5% in immortality).

Here's the link to that report: Leading Scientists Still Reject God

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I quoted Collin's percentage of scientists believing in God. If 100% of scientists believed there was no God, that might be more compelling than the fact that there exists any percentage of scientists who believe in God. I did not post the information to try to convince anyone about God, I just thought it was interesting to hear Collin's reasoning for a God.

People believe whatever they want about God. As a personal question, it is one we all grapple with at one time or another. If believing that there is no God works for you, that's great.

Last edited by Kim - Paranormal; 04/05/07 10:13 AM.

Kim DeLeary
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I agree that everyone has to grapple with this issue on a personal level. You posted the link to the story presumably because you wished to hear our opinion on Dr. Collins' statement and/or our opinion on whether a single scientist's religious beliefs is significant enough for CNN to cover it as if it were a compelling reason to follow suit. I didn't think you personally were presenting an argument one way or another, so I assumed it would be fine to state my own reflections as to the matter.

Regarding percentages, 100% is hard to achieve. However, the fact that only 5.5% of biologists believe in a god, and for most of them this is an abstract deist notion of god rather than that of any specific religion, does say something. Not that I expect anyone to be convinced one way or another about the matter on the basis of other people's opinions! We must all decide for ourselves based upon our own evaluation of the evidence. And if believing in God works for some people, including Dr. Collins, that's great...so long as they don't try to legislate their beliefs and force the rest of us to follow them.

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I agree entirely with you that we must make our own decisions and should not have the belief of others forced upon us.

As for the information about the percentage of scientists who believe in God, I think that no matter which side of the fence the poll information comes from, there is a potential for bias.

Last edited by Kim - Paranormal; 04/05/07 11:57 AM.

Kim DeLeary
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Good point. It certainly is easy to cherry-pick statistics to support one's viewpoint. For that reason, among others, statistics are often only convincing to those who agree with you. And in matters of personal conviction, even more so. Hence my opinion that this article presenting an argument of one is not convincing to me personally. For many theists, however, I imagine his testimony is quite comforting. Either way, I'm fine with it so long as dissent with the majority view is still allowed.

One thing we can or should all agree upon, however, is that the universe certainly is awe-inspiring.

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Wolf
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Yes, universe certainly is awe-inspiring.


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