The Most Important Question

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It was an erratic journey for Francis Collins, the famous geneticist who heads the National Institutes of Health, noted for his discoveries of disease genes and leadership of the Human Genome Project.

Growing up in a family indifferent to God and religion, he proclaimed himself an agnostic, then an atheist. Unlike other scientists, however, his research brought him closer to belief in God.

“I was astounded by the elegance of the human DNA code,” he wrote in his book, ‘The Language of God,’ “and the multiple consequences of those rare careless moments of its copying mechanism.”

He was compelled to ask himself, “Could there be a more important question in all of human existence than ‘Is there a God?’”

Constructs of a School Boy
He eventually answered that question in the affirmative, deciding that “all of my constructs against the possibility of faith were those of a schoolboy.”

One of the constant themes of this blog is that there is no inherent conflict between faith and science, even though many believers and scientists, for their own purposes, say there is.

I believe this is important because people searching for God are thrown off course by the view that skepticism and critical thinking are incompatible with faith. So it’s refreshing to read someone like Nancy Ellen Abrams, co-author, with cosmologist Joel Primack, of “The View from the Center of the Universe: Discovering Our Extraordinary Place in the Cosmos.” 

Nancy Ellen Abrams

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First, some of us may think that scientists know virtually everything about the universe. But Abrams points out that “everything astronomers can see — including all the stars, planets and glowing gas clouds in our galaxy, and all the distant galaxies — is less than half of 1 percent of the contents of the universe.”

They make inferences about what they can’t see, much the same, I believe, as theologians do about God.

Anyway, Abrams says in an article called, “A God That Could Be Real,” recently featured on the web page of National Public Radio, that “what we need is a coherent big picture that is completely consistent with — and even inspired by — science, yet provides an empowering way of rethinking God that provides the human and social benefits without the fantasy.”

To be clear, Abrams does not embrace the God of Christians and Jews, unlike Collins. She would probably classify that God as “fantasy.” And to be honest, some of what people believe about God is fantasy. Part of the task of theology is to distinguish between unfounded speculation and beliefs based on rational inferences.

Possible to Discover God?
In any case, Abrams is basically saying that humans need both science and faith and that together, it may be possible to discover God.

“Our species needs every advantage we can possibly muster, and peace between science and God, peace between reason and spirit, would certainly be advantageous. For millions of thoughtful rational people to have no way to draw on their spiritual power is a tragedy.”

She writes from personal experience.

“The idea of an emerging God triggers as many taboos for atheists as for believers, but if you dare to try it out by moving in with all your furniture, the way scientists are willing to live inside a theory as if it's true — sometimes for many years in order to test it and discover its implications — I don't think it's an exaggeration to say it will transform your life. It has mine.”