Francis Collins and the Middle Ground

 
Francis Collins is interviewed in Christianity Today [Creation or Evolution? Yes!: Francis Collins issues a call to stand on the middle ground].

I'm eagerly waiting for all the appeasers to attack Collins for not being an expert on religion. Meanwhile PZ Myers invites us to take a whack at the worst parts of the interview [Collins in Christianity Today]. Here's my contribution ...

One of the main reasons I wrote The Language of God was to try to put forward a comfortable synthesis of what science teaches us about the natural world and what faith teaches us about God. Yet it seems to be a pretty well kept secret these days that the scientific approach and the spiritual approach are compatible.

It used to be a well-kept secret when the believers dominated the discussion. But now the cat's out of the bag. Science and religion are at war and only one of them is going to emerge victorious.

I think we've allowed for too long extreme voices to dominate the stage in a way that has led many people to assume that's all there is.

Repeat after me ..

ATHEISM IS NOT AN EXTREME VOICE

It only seems that way to believers because they can't conceive of anyone not believing in God. But, in fact, almost everyone rejects 99.99% of all Gods. Atheists just go one God further. It's really not that much of a stretch.

The thesis of my book is that there is no need for this battle. In fact, it's a destructive battle. And we as a society would be well served to recover that happy middle ground where people have been for most of human history.

There is no middle ground between belief and non-belief, or between rationalism and superstition. You can't occupy something that doesn't exist.