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I’ve found God,
says man who cracked the genome
THE scientist who led the team that cracked the human
genome is to publish a book explaining why he now believes in the existence of
God and is convinced that miracles are real.
Francis Collins, the director of the US National Human
Genome Research Institute, claims there is a rational basis for a creator and
that scientific discoveries bring man “closer to God”.
His book, The Language of God, to be published in
September, will reopen the age-old debate about the relationship between
science and faith. “One of the great tragedies of our time is this impression
that has been created that science and religion have to be at war,” said
Collins, 56.
“I don’t see that as necessary at all and I think it is
deeply disappointing that the shrill voices that occupy the extremes of this
spectrum have dominated the stage for the past 20 years.”
For Collins, unravelling the human genome did not
create a conflict in his mind. Instead, it allowed him to “glimpse at the
workings of God”.
“When you make a breakthrough it is a moment of
scientific exhilaration because you have been on this search and seem to have
found it,” he said. “But it is also a moment where I at least feel closeness to
the creator in the sense of having now perceived something that no human knew
before but God knew all along.
“When you have for the first time in front of you this
3.1 billion-letter instruction book that conveys all kinds of information and
all kinds of mystery about humankind, you can’t survey that going through page
after page without a sense of awe. I can’t help but look at those pages and
have a vague sense that this is giving me a glimpse of God’s mind.”
Collins joins a line of scientists whose research
deepened their belief in God. Isaac Newton, whose discovery of the laws of
gravity reshaped our understanding of the universe, said: “This most beautiful
system could only proceed from the dominion of an intelligent and powerful
being.”
Although Einstein revolutionised our thinking about
time, gravity and the conversion of matter to energy, he believed the universe
had a creator. “I want to know His thoughts; the rest are details,” he said.
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