--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "hugheshugo" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "authfriend" <jstein@> wrote: > > > > Excerpts from an interview at Salon.com with > > Francis Collins, head of the Human Genome Project, > > about his religious beliefs (he's an evangelical > > Christian), which he discusses in his new book, > > "The Language of God." <snip> > > But then I went to > > medical school, and I watched people who were suffering from > > terrible diseases. And one of my patients, after telling me about > > her faith and how it supported her through her terrible heart > > pain, turned to me and said, "What about you? What do you > > believe?" And I stuttered and stammered and felt the color rise > > in my face, and said, "Well, I don't think I believe in > > anything." But it suddenly seemed like a very thin answer. And > > that was unsettling. I was a scientist who was supposed to draw > > conclusions from the evidence and I realized at that moment > > that I'd never really looked at the evidence for and against > > the possibility of God. > > I never realised death-bed conversions were contagious!
I'm not sure why you conclude from what he says either that the woman was on her deathbed or that she herself had undergone a recent conversion. > Just goes to show how the power of emotion and the fear of death > can create all sorts of ideas, I would say it's our knowledge of > death that gives rise to beliefs in afterlife, re-incarnation etc. > > I would say that after having studied physics the lack of evidence > for should have been obvious. He's very clear that such beliefs are a matter of faith, not science. The "evidence" he refers to above has nothing to do with the after life or reincarnation, as he goes on to point out in one of the excerpts I posted, but rather for the existence of God to start with, and it has to do with what he calls "Moral Law." > But absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence > as we all know. > > > C: Absolutely. It was as if he was reading my mind. As I read > > his arguments about the Moral Law -- the knowledge of right and > > wrong, > > which makes no sense from the perspective of basic evolution and > > biology but makes great sense as a signpost to God -- I began to > > realize the truth of what he was saying. Ultimately, I realized I > > couldn't go back to where I was. I could never again say atheism > > is the only logical choice for a scientifically trained person.... > > > > S: You and I have grown up with certain moral lessons. We've > > been told that we should help people. This is the right thing to > > do. Couldn't you argue that doing good and helping people is just > > part of cultural evolution? > > > > C: You could argue that, but if it was just a cultural > > tradition, you ought to be able to find some cultures where > > it is not present. > > > Too easy, we spent most of our existence evolving these traits in > Africa and then spread out only recently taking this "odd" > behaviour with us. I say "odd" because it isn't really odd at all > we are a group animal that relies on each other for survival and > behaviour that supports the group as a whole is a neccesicity. You should read the rest of the interview; he addresses this point. I'd be interested in your view after you've read it. I don't know enough about the mechanisms of evolution to be able to tell whether what he says makes sense or not. I tend instinctively to resist the idea that "Moral Law" implies a divine being. To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
