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Emphasized moral applications of scientific knowledge.
Geneticist Francis Collins, director of the Human Genome Project, last week stepped down from the post after 15 years. The geneticist and his team mapped the human genome in 2003, opening the door to personalized medical treatments--and to other, perhaps more sinister outcomes, such as discrimination based on one's genetic makeup. But Collins experienced a significant triumph last month with passage of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, which, according to Scientific American, "prohibits health insurers and employers from canceling or denying coverage or hiking premiums based on one's genetic risk of developing a certain disease."
In a 2001 interview with CT, Collins said of his work:
I think the genome project is a way of accumulating knowledge, and knowledge does not have moral value. Knowledge is neither good nor evil; it's just knowledge. It's information. The application that we make of that knowledge takes on a moral character.
Posted by Stan Guthrie on June 4, 2008 9:48AM
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Comments
Francis Collins brought a lot to the Human Genome Project. I hope the next director is as humble and talented as he is.
Posted by: Matt J at June 4, 2008
Francis Collins is one of the great minds of the 21st century. We will be seeing and reading more of him!
Posted by: Jim at June 4, 2008
One of the most informative scientific books where Francis Collins
injects even his own persoanl theology has got to be an outstanding
publication.
Posted by: Ben Catania at June 5, 2008
Francis Collins's work and his book, The Language of God, provide the greatest testimony yet that God's general revelation (of which science is a part) and his special revelation (the Bible) are not in conflict. It is the way we interpret them and impose our own ideas that brings the all-too-common contention. Collins's work is a landmark for evangelical Christianity.
Posted by: Jim R at June 6, 2008
Unfortunately, after seeing the incredible design present in the genome, Dr. Collins did not have the courage to stand up against academic peer pressure, but on the contrary, insisted that the human genome project confirmed evolution. He could and should have stated clearly that the elegant systems that control our heredity demand a Creator and thus, Theism holds the intellectual high ground.
Posted by: Ross Olson at June 6, 2008
He has been a great Christian appogist. I'm glad he's on our side!!
Posted by: will at June 6, 2008
Though I don't agree with Dr. Collins' religious views, I'm glad he had the courage to stand up against evangelical peer pressure and affirm the reality of evolution and the fact that "intelligent design" has no scientific basis.
Posted by: ex-preacher at June 12, 2008
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