FW: Embarrassing God

From: John E. Rylander (rylander@prolexia.com)
Date: Tue Jul 25 2000 - 16:09:19 EDT

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    This from Wired, via Philosophy News, via the Society of Christian
    Philosophers mailing list. (Some good links at Wired, too.)

    John

    -----Original Message-----
    From: scp-owner@udomo3.calvin.edu [mailto:scp-owner@udomo3.calvin.edu]
    On Behalf Of Philosophy News Service * richard jones
    Sent: Tuesday, July 25, 2000 2:24 PM
    To: Society of Christian Philosophers Listserv
    Subject: Embarrassing God

    "God gave us ... a curiosity to understand his creation," Collins said.
    "I donāt think we need to worry that we will move into an exploration
    that will embarrass him."

    ====================================================

    Where's God in the Machine?

    by Jordan Lite

    3:00 a.m. Jul. 24, 2000 PDT

    DEERFIELD, Illinois ö The scientist climbed the twisted ladder of
    proteins that make humans the species they are and realized he'd
    glimpsed secrets that once only God knew. Now he stands atop that pile
    of chemicals and asks the heavens when the right time would be to get
    down.

    Such is the life of Francis Collins, geneticist extraordinaire. Still
    smiling ear-to-ear over the recently completed sequencing of the human
    genome, Collins the scientist is nonetheless engaged in an internal
    battle with Collins the believer over just how far is far enough in the
    quest to learn how humans work.

    Frequently enthusiastic and often conflicted, the director of the Human
    Genome Project said in a far-ranging and revealing speech Friday night
    that the promise of genome research "is so great that the unethical
    thing we could do would be to slow it down." Still, he said, "the
    dignity of the human being should not be compromised by what about human
    beings would be interesting to explore."

    Speaking to a Christian-oriented bioethics conference outside Chicago,
    Collins said that goal means no germline therapy ö- tampering with DNA
    in ways that could permanently alter future generations ö- at least for
    now. He fears that information derived from the genome won't just be
    used to treat genetically inherited diseases, but to discriminate
    against the disadvantaged and to enhance traits considered more trivial.

    The use of embryos for research on human stem cells is another source of
    torment, as National Institutes of Health scientists fight Congress over
    a ban on federal funds for such endeavors they say could successfully
    treat cancer and degenerative neurological diseases.

    "There are scientists who are interested in human development and donāt
    come at this issue from a faith perspective and don't attach particular
    significance to these cells. A lot of people would love to unravel those
    details. You have to be sympathetic with their interest," Collins said.
    "My own position is to be intensely conflicted, to be honest."

    Though decisions about germline therapy and stem-cell research are not
    among Collins' responsibilities, the debates come at a time when the
    speed of technological innovation seems to be nurturing among the
    general public a sense of genetic determinism that worries him. More
    effort must be made to educate the public about what the genome project
    is about, he said.

    "We are being thought of as machines, that we are DNA and that is all,"
    he said. "That is not the conclusion I draw. Science is not going to
    render free will obsolete. It will not shed light on what it means to
    love someone."

    It will, however, allow doctors to more precisely identify individual
    risk of disease and offer much more promising treatments -ö prospects
    that leave Collins optimistic that the mapping effort and other research
    will lead to more good than harm.

    "God gave us ... a curiosity to understand his creation," Collins said.
    "I donāt think we need to worry that we will move into an exploration
    that will embarrass him."

    An openly religious man, Collins is aware that his faith could be
    construed as prohibitive of scientific exploration. A February 1998
    profile in Scientific American described Collins as being generally
    admired among other researchers and bioethicists for keeping his
    religious beliefs separate from his work, but noted that he has been
    criticized for not urging a reversal of the ban on federally funded
    embryo research.

    Collins's faith is part of his work, acknowledged Arthur Caplan,
    director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania,
    "But I've never seen it interfere. He can crack the genetic code without
    causing cracks in his spiritual integrity.

    "Usually the way people square off their strong faith beliefs is they
    stay out of those most contentious areas," added Caplan, who advised
    both the government and privately held Celera on the ethical issues
    involved with their mapping of the human genome. "At the end of the day
    though, science and religion view each other sort of like North and
    South Korea."

    During an informal Q&A with the media following his speech Friday night,
    Collins said that "if faith has meaning it can't be off in one part of
    you. It has to be integrated. I think my faith adds to the experience of
    being a scientist in the way that discovering something has more
    meaning; sort of glimpsing the mind of God."

    His spirituality evolved from teenage agnosticism to atheism in college
    and eventually, as a medical resident, he discovered he believed in God.

    "I began to get uneasy about the decision I'd made because I was
    surrounded by patients whose faith was clearly important to them. The
    more I became uneasy about that, the more I realized I didn't know
    enough," he said.

    "I stayed in a 'plausible mode' for a year, and finally ... while on a
    hike in the Cascade Mountains, I thought this was irresistible and what
    an enormous relief. I was 27. I've certainly never been tempted to go
    back."

    SOURCE: http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,37692,00.html



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