Francis Sellers Collins, M.D., Ph.D. has been awarded the 2020 Templeton Prize for progress in religion and science. An American physician, geneticist, and bestselling author, he is the director of the National Institute of Health and a member of the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Sciences.
Collins is renowned for his significant contribution to the mapping and sequencing of “the three billion DNA letters that make up the human genetic instruction book.”
The Templeton Foundation noted that his supervision of the Human Genome Project pinpointed disease-related genes responsible for cystic fibrosis, type 2 diabetes, Huntington’s disease, and Hutchinson-Guilford progeria syndrome, a rare form of premature aging. These discoveries and other genetic breakthroughs have “launched a new era of precision medicine in which researchers and providers can customize treatment programs for individual patients, and have shed new light on human well-being and the nature and possibilities of the human species.”
Through his scientific leadership, public speaking, and popular writing, including his bestselling 2006 book The Language of God, Collins has demonstrated how religious faith can motivate and inspire rigorous scientific research.
“This book argues that belief in God can be an entirely rational choice” – he writes in his book’s introduction – “and that the principles of faith are, in fact, complementary to the principles of science.” In the book, he endeavors to encourage religious communities to embrace the latest discoveries of genetics and the biomedical sciences as insights to enrich and enlarge their faith.
In his acceptance statement, Collins said: “As I write this, almost every waking moment is consumed by the effort to find treatments and a vaccine for COVID-19. The elegant complexity of human biology constantly creates in me a sense of awe. Yet I grieve at the suffering and death I see all around; at times, I confess I am assailed by doubts about how a loving God would permit such tragedies. Then I remember that the God who hung on the cross is intimately familiar with suffering … I learn and re-learn that God never promised freedom from suffering — but rather to be ‘our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.’ ”
Considering himself to have been somewhere between an agnostic and an atheist until the age of 27, Collins shared how he shied away from anyone who tried to talk to him about religion “having perhaps had too many instances of feeling like a target for some person who was trying to sell me their faith.” However, as a third-year medical student, he was struck by the deep faith expressed by his patients who were nearing death and began to question his own belief.
Having been introduced to C.S. Lewis’ book Mere Christianity, in which he presents a rational case for God’s existence, Collins found a common ground that opened the way to Christianity. Lewis’ examination of the basis of morality — why there is such a thing as good and evil, and why it matters — are questions unanswerable for the most ardent atheist, according to Collins.
“Because if they try to argue that our ideas about good and evil are solely driven by evolutionary pressures that have helped us survive, the ultimate consequence is that those are fictional concepts.”
In 2007, he and his wife founded the non-profit BioLogos Foundation, which provides a social media forum where conversations about the harmony between science and biblical faith find space. Along with his books, Collins works to encourage “greater curiosity, open-mindedness, and humility among scientists and religious believers, to illuminate a pathway toward ‘a sober and intellectually honest integration’ of the scientific and spiritual perspectives.”
The Templeton Prize is valued at $1.35 million — one of the largest annual awards given to an individual who has made advancements in the understanding of religion and science. Past recipients have included Mother Teresa (the inaugural recipient), Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Bishop Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama, Chiara Lubich, and King Abdullah II of Jordan.
Describing himself as “amazed” at winning the Templeton Prize, Collins said that if “something comes of receiving the honor, it will be to help young people who ask, ‘Can we trust science and can we trust faith?’ ” He said he regularly receives emails from many who are in deep crisis about reconciling the two world views. “My heart aches for these young people.”
The Templeton Prize honors individuals whose exemplary achievements advance Sir John Templeton’s philanthropic vision: harnessing the power of the sciences to explore the deepest questions of the universe and humankind’s place and purpose within it.
This year, the Templeton philanthropies updated the description of the prize, focusing it on research, discovery, public engagement, and religious leadership that advance insights of science.
Emilie Christy
(Living City, USA)
