The Houston Chronicle Science blog had this article today (the title is theirs...not mine). This week the U.S. Senate will likely confirm the nomination of Dr. Francis Collins to direct the National Institutes of Health. In this position Collins will be responsible for distributing $30 billion to the country's biomedical researchers. Although the job has a substantially lower profile than the U.S. Surgeon General, with that kind of budget it wields far more power.
Collins' nomination is notable because he is a scientist who is an evangelical Christian who speaks openly and often about his faith. (See, for example, his book The Language of God).
His nomination has drawn fire from some scientists and atheists who argue with his views that science has made belief in God "intensely plausible." Prominent atheist Sam Harris made this very argument in a New York Times op-ed recently.
So what does the nomination of Collins really mean for scientists, and the broad chasm between American culture and science? I asked Josh Rosenau, a staffer at the National Center for Science Education, which defends the teaching of evolution in public schools.
Click the picture to read the article.
No comments:
Post a Comment