Collins Versus the Atheists

National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins says vocal atheists are giving the public the wrong idea about science, adding that the science-religion conflict is "overstated," reports USA Today's Dan Vergano. Some researchers consider belief in both God and evolution to be irreconcilable, but Collins says that approach might be "causing a lot of people not familiar with science to change their assessments of it." When Collins, an evangelical Christian and founder of the BioLogos Foundation, was elevated to the post of NIH director, he came under fire from some scientists for his religious beliefs. As Vergano points out, Harvard's Steven Pinker wrote in 2009 that "Collins is an advocate of profoundly anti-scientific beliefs, and it is reasonable for the scientific community to ask him how these beliefs will affect his administration." Collins, though, says he has personally found room for both God and science. "There are a lot of scientists, I'm one of them, who believe there is a 'middle ground' between science and faith," Collins said.