The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief

Looking for an interesting read that combines science and spirituality? Pick up 'The Language of God' by Francis S. Collins. Dr. Collins is a scientist and medical doctor, who through his work as head of the Human Genome Project, presents us with "evidence for belief". Having donated a sample of my own DNA to National Geographic's ancestry version of gene mapping, I couldn't resist checking out this book.

Dr. Collins tells us of his beginnings, being raised as an agnostic by a couple of graduate-student, "free-thinking" parents who home-schooled him on a modest "dirt farm" in Virginia. He eventually landed at Yale studying Chemistry, and then later, medicine and biochemistry at the University of North Carolina. It was his experiences studying medicine and treating patients that began to convert his spiritual view from agnosticism (believing in an unknown and impersonal God) to theism (believing in a loving God).

The author explains how Moral Law and Selfless Altruism (or Agape) figures into our evolution and why we should have faith. He counters all the arguments scientists and people in general give about why they do not believe in God. These include wish fulfillment, harm done in the name of religion, why a loving God would allow suffering, and how a rational person can be in miracles.

Dr. Collins explains why he is amazed at the elegance of mathematical equations, and the incredible 'coincidences' and recently-discovered mathematical quantities involved in the Big Bang. He tells us of the likelihood of the existence of our universe, our solar system, and our earth (we are "truly made of stardust"). The author also discusses the likelihood of our existence as humans and the existence of other civilizations in the universe. Our universe seems to be "wildly improbable". I love Dr. Collins explanation of the rational scientist who scales the mountains of ignorance, only to pull himself over the final rock and be greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries!

The author discusses the Anthropic Principle (which has to do with the astounding 'coincidences' in the Big Bang and formation of the universe) that many well-known scientists (such as Stephen Hawking) believe in. Dr. Collins quotes Freeman Dyson, a distinguished physicist, who after studying the "numerical accidents" concludes, "The more I examine the universe and the details of its architecture, the more evidence I find that the universe in some sense must have known we were coming."

We are given a simple explanation of why quantum mechanics and the Uncertainty Principle pose no conflict with God and faith. In fact, science actually solves many problems of many religions. He tells us of William Paley's story of the Watchmaker-and that while it may be a compelling parable; it doesn't give the whole picture.

The author tells us of 'horizontal gene transfer' in early Earth life and the improbability of the rise of self-replicating organisms after only a 150-million-year gap. He ponders how it arrived here in the first place and why it became so intricate. He also tells us why the argument about the Second Law of Thermodynamics does not apply to development of life on Earth. The author also cautions the Believer to not invoke "Divine Intervention" for every gap of the scientific unknown or unexplained acceleration-as in the past, when scientific discoveries explain these unknowns, faith can tragically be discredited and destroyed.

From there, the reader is given an explanation of the Fossil Record, the Cambrian Explosion, and how the extinction of dinosaurs made way for the rise of mammals (such as the modern human). The author gives a short account of Darwin, his Theory of Evolution, and why the faithful should not feel threatened by this science.

Dr. Collins tells us the history of how genes were discovered, eventually leading to the discovery of DNA and the DNA helix structure. The reader is told in plain language how DNA works, that it resides in each cell, and how it provides the coding/script for formation of our bodies. From this explanation, it seems to the reviewer that God is an all-encompassing 'computer' programmer.

From these discoveries, scientists have gone further to discover "messenger" RNA and the fact that DNA is universal in all life-forms. The author tells of recombinant DNA-which are the 'tricks' that molecular biologists use to map DNA in order to manipulate genes and treat disease. Dr. Collins marvels at the elegance of life, especially at the level of DNA, and his faith is only made stronger by discovering these things and how they point to God (which contradicts many people's feelings that God is left out of the equation). He proclaims, "How deeply satisfying is the digital elegance of DNA!"

Dr. Collins became the leader of the Human Genome Project (a tremendous assignment to map human genes) in 1992, taking over from the original leader, Jim Watson. The scientist explains how tedious of a job it was mapping even a small portion of the 3.1-billion human genes. The group of thousands of scientists experienced both failures and triumphs. The detection of the genes responsible for sickle-cell anemia and cystic fibrosis were among the first and most inspiring for the book's author (though genetic treatment for these types of diseases is not available yet). The group also advocated no patenting of the coding of discovered genes and fought against Craig Venter of Celera who tried to take mapping to the private sector, which would make future discoveries difficult and expensive.

The author tells of his pride of presenting the first draft of the "human instruction book" to the White House in June of 2000. With all the advances in technology, the completed version was given in April of 2003. The author shares the lyrics to the songs he had written in honor of the hope that DNA discoveries have given to those with horrendous diseases.

Dr. Collins gives some facts about DNA and how it works, such as the fact there are 3.1 billion letters of DNA code arrayed across 23 chromosomes in humans. Humans are 99.9% identical to each other, no matter what race or part of the world. We are 96% identical to chimps; in fact one of the major differences is that two of our chromosomes have fused into one in chimps. The author discusses how similar our DNA structure is to other species. He also explains how surprised at just how simple the coding is and how little of it seems to exist (especially in humans), given the diversity of life.

The scientist also points to the fact that a lot of "junk DNA" seems to exist in our coding that seems to rule out individual creation by God. "Silent" mutations occur in every generation that seem to have no visible result. Some of the mutations are even seen to by positive, as if "catching evolution in the act". He explains the observation that viruses and bacteria can experience rapid evolutionary changes in DNA.

Dr. Collins tells the reader of Ancient Repetitive Elements or ARE's; these ARE's point to humans and other animals having common ancestors. Genes have been found which are still sitting in the human DNA code, but are no longer functional. Yet, the same genes found in animals are still functional. The book's author asks why God would have done this if He had opted not to use evolution as a means for creating life.

The author also discusses how the pitiful definition of the word 'theory' has caused many misunderstandings and the possible reason there has been disapproval from so many Christian leaders on the subject.

The reviewer of this book would also like to mention Dr. Collins' statement of the discovery of the gene FOXP2, which deals with speech/language development. The reviewer submits that maybe this gene (or the mutation of) has something to do with the recent rise of autism.

The author discusses the specifics of the Book of Genesis, and gives examples from the lives of Saint Augustine and Galileo. Targeting Galileo, a Dominican Friar insisted that, "Geometry is of the devil" and, "mathematicians should be banished as the authors of all heresies". Galileo countered with, "I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use." Dr. Collins tells us a public apology was finally made by the Pope to Galileo in 1992.

The author lists your options for belief (or the lack of). Option 1 is a discussion of the history of atheism and agnosticism. He cites the amount of unnecessary hostility this group of people has created over the last several decades; specifically naming Madalyn Murray O'Hair (Did you know among many things, she filed suit to keep astronauts from praying out-loud while on space missions? Thus, Buzz Aldrin of Apollo 11 arranged to secretly be given communion while on the moon's surface), Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, and Edward O. Wilson as the most notorious. While the author respects their freedom to believe what they want, he gives an explanation why atheism, while intended to be rational, is actually the most irrational of all options. He also gives a short history of agnosticism and how Thomas Henry Huxley coined the "strong" and "weak" terms for this group. He explains how agnosticism tends to looked at as a "cop-out".

The next option listed is Creationism or Young Earth Creationism. These are the believers in a completely literal translation of the Bible and believe that the Earth is less than 10,000 years old. This group believes that the layers of Earth were laid out in the Great Flood described in Genesis, and is a view that was polled to be held by 45% of Americans. The "ultra-literal" interpretation in the Bible was furthered by the late Henry Morris. Unfortunately, according to the book's author, there is over-whelming physical evidence that a literal translation of Genesis is impossible and lately many of these ideas have been proven wrong. Dr. Collins does not believe God made all of this physical evidence to mislead us. He does not believe God is a "cosmic trickster", and he pleas for reason from Creationists. The author understands the instinct to defend God and the Bible at all costs (though does not feel He needs to be defended by humans), but does not want to see future generations' faith destroyed when they are confronted by this evidence once raised in an "ultra-literal" home. Dr. Collins quotes evangelical Christian and biologist, Darrel Falk in regards to Creationism, "...it is the equivalent of insisting that two plus two is really not equal to four."

The third option listed is that of Intelligent Design. Found fairly recently by lawyer Phillip Johnson, this view believes a Higher Power of some sort created the world and continues to correct things along the way. It is a popular view held by many in which the stunning complexity or "irreducible complexity" of life proves a Higher Power is involved-although there has been confusion on what is truly believed by this group. Believers such as Michael Behe and William Dembski point especially to bacterial flagellum, which seem to be miniature "outboard motors", complete with base anchors, drive shafts, universal joints, and filament propellers. Dr. Collins explains how many of these views lack scientific merit and are being challenged by many new discoveries of the way certain evolutionary processes work. He does not feel that God makes mistakes and needs to re-guide his efforts once they were put into place.

The fourth and final option is the one in which the author of the book classifying himself-Biologos (a name in which he suggests in order to dispel confusion) or Theistic Evolution. This group believes that there is a personal, loving God who set the universe in motion with a Grand Plan-and using processes such as evolution, he watches as His creation grows with very little or no intervention. They believe that God does not make mistakes in His Plan and what we find as mistakes, may not be to God. While this is relatively unknown by the general public, this is the belief held by most spiritually-minded scientists and important figures (such as the late Pope John Paul II). Dr. Collins is a member of the American Scientific Affiliation (www.asa3.org) which supports Theistic Evolution. My favorite quote to describe his dissatisfaction of other views by stating, "The God of the Bible is also the God of the genome." He cites that the beliefs are not in conflict with science and supports the Moral Law and spiritual longing inside of us as humans (which seems to be an evolutionary mistake).

Dr. Collins goes on to tell of his spiritual experiences as a temporary doctor in a poor African Village and his wonder at how the Moral Law seems universal to all. He tells us how he went beyond just being a spiritual man to being specifically a Christian and how amazed he is at the historical evidence of Jesus Christ. When discussing spirituality and science, the author tells a parable of a fisherman whose net has a mesh size of three inches, and then concludes there are no fish smaller than three inches!

Finally, the author covers bioethics in DNA with testing and experimenting, and the misconceptions and ignorance associated with this field. He goes over the four principles of ethics (citing Childress and Beauchamp). Dr. Collins also discusses hereditary diagnosis, cloning, embryos, genetic enhancement, somatic cell nuclear transfer, and in-vitro fertilization; how feasible these things are and the ethics associated with them.

"The Language of God" is an interesting read that is guaranteed to make you think. Francis S. Collins is an intelligent, well-educated man whose writing keeps your attention. Dr. Collins considers C.S. Lewis a great spiritual mentor and quotes him throughout the book.

Those who are frightened by math (as I am) and are doubtful that they can handle the scientific terms, should not worry. This book is written to be read by the everyday person. Dr. Collins' aim is to frankly talk to both scientists who believe there is no God and believers who completely shun science as blasphemy. He is attempting to join the two in the middle by showing that many of the scientific discoveries as of late do not conflict spirituality and vice versa-in fact they support it.

I agree with almost every point put forth by Dr. Collins and most evidence made complete sense to me. The only thing I felt he should have not included in the book, was listing the lyrics to the songs he had written for disease research. While I respect his interest in the guitar and music, I found it to be unprofessional in this type of book. I have to admit, when I first picked up the book and scanned over the book's description, I expected to be reading a book in which a geneticist had discovered a specific set of genes which proved the existence of God. This wasn't the case; however, I was ultimately satisfied by what I learned from the book.

As the author of this review, I suggest that anyone who has a strong opinion about these issues and wants to comment, FIRST read the book before expressing his or her beliefs or opinions. You may just find that you were lacking all the information you needed in order to form an educated spiritual, Biblical, or scientific view.

"The Language of God" by Francis S. Collins (ISBN: 0-7432-8639-1) is a hardcover originally listed at $26.00 (much less at sites such as Amazon.com) and is published by Free Press. The book is 294 pages long (including an Appendix, Notes, and an Index) and can be obtained through any bookstore or online.