Francis Collins, a physician-geneticist, is the director of Americas National Institutes of Health (NIH). He worked on the Human Genome Project, a 13-year collaborative effort to map the complete set of human genes, which concluded in 2003. Separately, he has also researched the complementarity of science and faith. He was recently awarded the John Templeton Prize for his work on the subject. He explains his world view to Narayani Ganesh:

You were still in medical school when you made the transition from being agnostic, then atheist, to believer. How difficult is it to straddle both reason and faith?

I find it wonderfully rewarding. Science is the way to investigate nature, to ask the how questions like how genes code for proteins. Faith works on a different plane, asking why questions that science cant answer like why is there something instead of nothing, and is there a God? I am interested in all of the questions, and I find science and faith to be complementary.

Did your science background have a vital role to play in widening your perspective to include higher dimensions associated with spirituality?

I was already pursuing a scientific career when, as a medical student, I needed to understand why people believe in God. I approached faith with suspicion that reason would have to be sacrificed to accept the spiritual world view. I found out that was not at all the case. Atheism, the assertion of a universal negative, turned out to be the most irrational of the choices. To my surprise, reason was very much on the side of faith. I ended up being converted to Christianity.

Was your best-selling book, The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief, received well in your peer group?

There are many scientists who believe in a personal God, and they welcomed the book. Many others who are not people of faith were polite but a bit perplexed. A few of the atheist persuasion were strongly critical, arguing that my book revealed intellectual weakness, and a scientist should never write about faith.

Cutting-edge genetics include cloning and transgenetics that have raised ethical questions. How do these align with your religious beliefs?

As a Christian, I believe that we humans are special creatures with a special relationship with God. As such, the potential to reshape our very nature seems to cross a line into dangerous territory. Most ethicists agree with that, whether or not they are people of faith.

America is known for its deep divide over creationism/ intelligent design and evolutionary biology. What are your views on this?

The chronic conflict between science and faith is now particularly evident in this area of origins, and it troubles me greatly to see how this is driving people apart, and even causing young people to walk away from faith. As a scientist who studies the details of living things, including their digital record of past inheritance [DNA], I can tell you that the evolutionary relatedness of all living things, including humans, is absolutely compelling. Some say that evolution is just a theory, but this theory is about as well-established as gravity. As a believer in a Creator God, I find this all makes perfect sense God started the universe 14 billion years ago with matter, energy and a set of natural laws that would ultimately give rise to sentient creatures on a small blue planet. As the Creator is not limited in space or time, the outcome was known all along by God. That doesnt mean we dont have free will we most certainly do. And we can choose to seek God or to run the other way.

You are also a musician, and are known to have promoted music as therapy, especially in treating neurological conditions. Will you be doing further research on this?

I am fascinated by the way music can lift our spirits, inspire us to do great things, and bring us together. I am also impressed by how music therapy can help people with PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder], Parkinsons disease, or chronic pain and Id like to understand that better to make the treatment even more effective. The NIH now has a research programme to study these issues bringing together neuroscientists, musicians and music therapists. I expect interesting insights to happen.

In the context of Covid-19, how soon do you think we might have a vaccine?

Progress has been remarkable since the ACTIV [Accelerating Covid-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines] partnership came together in early April, bringing scientific talent and resources from all sectors onto the same team. Ive never seen such dedication and commitment. Phase I results from the first US vaccine are encouraging, others are close behind, and large-scale vaccine trials will be getting underway this summer. There are many uncertainties, but having a widely available safe and effective vaccine by early 2021 seems possible.

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

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Reason is on the side of faith Faith works on a different plane, asking questions that science cant - Economic Times