The Language Of God Analysis

The Language of God is a thought-provoking book by Dr. Francis Collins examining a question that pervades modern society: can science and faith be reconciled? Dr. Collins was the head of the Human Genome Project and the current director of the National Institute of Health. He is also a Christian. Collins steps the reader through his journey from atheism to faith and examines reasons for faith such as the Moral Law and the Big Bang. Finally, he considers the different positions one can take on evolution and decides if, and how, faith and science can exist peacefully within a person.

Raised in a home where faith “wasn’t very important” (11), it makes sense that he would turn to atheism as he studied science in university. Throughout his education

This theory has three basic principles: evolution promotes atheism and should, therefore, be resisted; evolution can’t account for the complexity of life and is flawed; if these are true, there must be an intelligent designer who provided a guiding force. In regards to the first idea, ID did not come from a scientific background and did not start out to understand scientific theory. The second argument rests upon the complexity of cells and the fact that if one thing goes wrong a cell cannot function. Idea number three is straightforward and although the proponents don’t specify God, it is clear God is what they mean by an intelligent designer. There are numerous scientific objections to ID theory, the first being that it fails to qualify as a scientific theory and therefore should not be used to explain science. Additionally, there is no mechanism by which the supernatural intervention ID suggests could have been carried out. Furthermore, science is now gaining a greater understanding of structures that were once thought too complex to make sense of. Theology also has objections to ID theory largely because it is a ’“God of the gaps”’ (193) theory that stick supernatural intervention where science cannot explain phenomena. Eventually, science will fill those gaps and those who attached faith to them will be left with nothing. Given the numerous objections, ID cannot be a legitimate position for much longer. The final position that Collins considers is his own, which he calls theist evolution and describes as science and faith in harmony. Collins asserts that this is the position taken by those who are serious scientists and believers. He lists the basic tenets of theistic evolution as