Advertisement

If you have an ACS member number, please enter it here so we can link this account to your membership. (optional)

ACS values your privacy. By submitting your information, you are gaining access to C&EN and subscribing to our weekly newsletter. We use the information you provide to make your reading experience better, and we will never sell your data to third party members.

ENJOY UNLIMITED ACCES TO C&EN

Policy

Francis Collins At NIH

October 12, 2009 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 87, Issue 41

In the C&EN article on the very obvious, sensible nomination of Francis Collins to head the National Institutes of Health, I was utterly astounded to find the reporter's statement that "some observers note that Collins' well-known religious beliefs might make some uneasy" (C&EN, July 13, page 5). Well, now! Or should I say, "Whad'ya know!" In the USA? The land of the free, and so on?

Could that be more than a teeny bit of a public antireligious profiling creeping in there? Having paired with Collins in a PBS documentary on Freud and C. S. Lewis (it never aired), and having read some of Collins' writings, I wonder what this comment says about the U.S. scientific community—or at least "some observers" therein.

Collins is obviously a highest rank scientist who also happens to be a Christian. A good start might be for the "observers" to drop the cloak of anonymity and let the public examine their religious practices. Scientists often do not even differentiate between religion (which is about behavior, what you do, orthopraxy) and theology (which is your theory, what you "believe," orthodoxy). Then perhaps we could compare what the observers do with their money, service to the poor, loving neighbors, and even enemies with what any appointee does.

Reporters might then be a little better armed on the subject to ask tougher questions. Collins obviously doesn't need my support; it is the community of reductionist scientism-fundamentalists who clearly need to be challenged along with all other religious-fundamentalists who claim a direct line to the supreme being, or supreme nonbeing. The latter may be the problem of the anonymous observers.

Rustum Roy
University Park, Pa.

If the laboratory in the background of your picture of Collins is his, he needs to get organized before heading a $30 billion research agency.

George A. Cypher
La Jolla, Calif.

ACS National Election Ballots

Ballots for the American Chemical Society's fall 2009 national election were mailed to members the week of Sept. 28. If your ballot (mailed in a white envelope with a red banner marked "Vote!") hasn't arrived within two weeks, you may request that a duplicate ballot be sent to you by calling VR Election Services, Customer Service, at (800) 218-4026, Monday-Friday, 8:30 AM-5 PM central time, no later than Nov. 6, or sending an e-mail to the help desk at custserv@vres.us. You can cast your vote electronically or by traditional mail-in ballot. The voting deadline is close of business (5 PM CT), on Nov. 13. Election information on all candidates can be found at www.acs.org/elections.

Advertisement

Article:

This article has been sent to the following recipient:

0 /1 FREE ARTICLES LEFT THIS MONTH Remaining
Chemistry matters. Join us to get the news you need.