Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, to the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Sciences.
Collins, 59, is the geneticist who led the Human Genome Project, the international research project that mapped out the body’s complete genetic code in 2003. Among his other accomplishments, he was part of the team that in 1989 identified the gene causing cystic fibrosis.
What?! But.. but.. EVERYONE knows that Christians, especially CATHOLICS are anti-science!
I don’t think he’s Catholic.
Jeff (#2),
I don’t know his denominational affiliation, but he’s certainly an outspoken Christian. His best-selling book, [b]The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief[/b] (Free Press, 2006), makes it clear that he’s an adult convert to Christianity. He’s also clearly an advocate for theistic evolution, as opposed to “Intelligent Design.” Sounds like a great appoinment to me.
The Catholic Church has a great and proud tradition of welding together the best in Christian and secular thought, and respecting the importance of natural law and God’s general revelation of himself in creation. One thinks immediately of Augustine’s classic treatise [b]On the Literal Meaning of Genesis[/b] (where he insists the biblical creation accounts don’t have to be taken literally, but should be approached allegorically instead). Another great Doctor of the Church that comes to mind is Thomas Aquinas, who was able to incorporate the philostopical views of Aristotle, including the possibility that the universe wasn’t created [i]ex nihilo[/i], from nothing. Aquinas doesn’t deny that everything was created by God out of nothing; he just insists that such a belief isn’t a necessary one that’s so intrinsic to the Christian faith that it must be held by all faithful Christians.
All that is just to say that the Roman Catholic Church is more open to theistic evolution and responsible use of modern science than most conservative Christian churches. So I applaud the very existence of such a papal commission, and the appointment of Dr. Collins to it.
David Handy+
Oops, that’s the [i]philosophical[/i] views of Aristotle, of course.
David Handy+
#2, I’m pretty sure the Pope is Catholic.. I’ve even heard jokes to that effect 😉
Collins isn’t Catholic, and it seems he hasn’t publicly announced with which particular evangelical denomination he most closely associates himself, but it was a Methodist preacher who introduced him to C. S. Lewis, and the rest, as they say, is history.
On embryonic stem cell research, Collins recognizes it is a complex issue, with no easy answers, but he would prefer that tissue from a living animal be used instead. He is not far from the Catholic position.
#3 New Reformation Advocate,
Does the Catholic Magisterium follow Aquinas in teaching that creation ex nihilo is not an absolutely necessary belief for Christians?