Religion

There have been plenty of scientists over the years who go to church and seemingly have religious faith, yet are good scientists and do not intermix their religion with science. I know some of these folks. I think this is possible because of how science and religion have coexisted in the West since the Enlightenment.

That is, science deals with knowledge of the natural, and uses things like facts, observations, evidence. Religion deals with matters of ethics, metaphysics, rituals, "the supernatural". And they generally do not try to infringe on each others sphere of influence.

Of course, there are exceptions, and setbacks. The Scopes monkey trial comes to mind, as well as modern attempts to remove evolution from textbooks (or insert intelligent design). And then occasionally we have a scientist write a provacatively titled book like "The God Delusion". These are skirmishes in what is otherwise a longstanding, uneasy truce between science and religion.

If I may read something into what Dr. Collins is saying, I think it is this: Let's keep this truce going. Let science deal with matters of science, and religion deal with matters of religion.

And he is saying it to those who are highly likely to choose their religion over science, if they view it as a binary choice. Overall, I view this as a positive thing. And I say that as someone who believes that we will be better off as a species when we can leave religion behind. We aren't ready for that yet, but we can get there, gradually.