Gerardo Fernández's Profile

A lack of evidence

Review: October 2006

The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief

Francis S Collins

2006 Simon & Schuster 304pp $26.00hb

Most scientists do not believe in God for two simple reasons: they see no evidence for him; and they find no need to include supernatural elements in the models they build to describe their observations. Still, they are largely content to assign science and religion to separate domains, which Stephen Jay Gould calls "non-overlapping magisteria". This allows non-believing scientists to dodge the topic of religion altogether, thus avoiding jeopardizing what is most precious to them – their funding. It also permits scientists who do believe in God to compartmentalize their thinking and never discuss science and religion in the same breath.

However, this is not possible if you are Francis Collins – an evangelical Christian and head of the Human Genome Project. The Language of God is Collins's personal attempt to explain how he reconciles his science and his faith. Early on, he affirms what has become the disingenuous position of many scientists in the US and of organizations such as the National Academy of Sciences – that science has nothing to say about God and the supernatural. This flies in the face of the facts. Many reputable scientists are doing research that could, in principle, demonstrate the existence of the supernatural.

In the October issue of Physics World, atheist and regular aristarch of religion Victor J Stenger presents his reasons why The Language of God does not live up to its promise of providing "evidence for belief".

About the author

Victor J Stenger is emeritus professor of physics at the University of Hawaii and adjunct professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado, e-mail vstenger@mindspring.com. His new book, God, The Failed Hypothesis: How Science Shows that God Does Not Exist will be published by Prometheus Books in 2007.