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by Catholic News Agency
\nCatholic Voice<\/p>\n
Denver Newsroom, May 20, 2020 \/ 11:10 am (CNA<\/a>).- A scientist on the front lines of developing a vaccine for COVID-19 today was selected as the recipient of this year\u2019s Templeton Prize, an award recognizing his contributions to insight about religion through his work as a scientist.<\/p>\n Dr. Francis Collins, director of the\u00a0National Institutes of Health<\/a>\u00a0(NIH) and\u00a0member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences<\/a>, told CNA that working to develop the coronavirus vaccine is one of the biggest challenges of his career, and that these days when he is not working, he is finding solace in prayer and reading the psalms.<\/p>\n \u201cLike all crises, like all occasions of suffering, this is an opportunity where we can learn and grow. And I’m glad that I worship a God who knows about suffering,\u201d Collins, an evangelical Christian, told CNA.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Templeton Prize<\/a>, established in 1972 by global investor and philanthropist Sir John Templeton, is an annual cash award of \u00a31.1 million ($1.3 million) to a living person who has made \u201can exceptional contribution to affirming life\u2019s spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery or practical works.\u201d<\/p>\n St. Teresa of Calcutta was the inaugural recipient of the award in 1973.<\/p>\n Before joining the NIH in 2009, Dr. Collins had been professor of internal medicine and human genetics at the University of Michigan, leading research that had discovered the genes responsible for diseases such as cystic fibrosis; neurofibromatosis; Huntington\u2019s disease; and Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome, a rare form of premature aging.<\/p>\n In 1993, he was appointed director of the National Center for Human Genome Research, overseeing the\u00a0Human Genome Project<\/a>, an international collaboration that in 2003 succeeded in sequencing the three billion DNA \u201cletters\u201d in the human genome.<\/p>\n Now, Collins is overseeing the NIH\u2019s collaboration with several pharmaceutical companies and government agencies to develop a vaccine for COVID-19. At least one potential vaccine will be ready to begin large-scale testing by July with others to follow soon, Collins told The Associated Press last week.<\/p>\n \u201cI pray for wisdom, for guidance, I pray for forgiveness for making mistakes along the way,\u201d Collins told CNA.<\/p>\n \u201cI’ve been involved in so many large-scale science projects over the last 30 years, from finding the gene for cystic fibrosis, to the genome project, to cancer immunotherapy; and somehow the burden of responsibility here\u2014 we can’t afford to lose a day of progress in finding treatments and a vaccine and better tests\u2014 is just there every minute.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd here I am in my home office, but barely ever going outside, and probably working 110 hours a week just trying to do everything I can to marshal all of those resources and praying to God that they are used wisely to bring hope and healing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n A rational case for God\u2019s existence<\/strong><\/p>\n A Virginia native, Collins was homeschooled until age 10 and studied chemistry at the college and graduate level, earning a bachelor\u2019s, Ph.D., and later his M.D., after which he was named a Fellow in Human Genetics at Yale Medical School.<\/p>\n Veering between agnositcism to atheism until age 27, Collins has said that he was \u201cvery happy with the idea that God did not exist and that he had no interest in me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat was where I was\u2014 if somebody tried to raise that topic [of religion], I would be quick to dismiss it and want to move on to something else, having perhaps had too many instances of feeling like a target for some person who was trying to sell me their faith,\u201d Collins said.<\/p>\n Collins converted in part thanks to C.S. Lewis\u2019 classic book Mere Christianity, which lays out a rational case for God\u2019s existence.<\/p>\n Collins said one thing that caught his attention in the opening chapters of the book is Lewis\u2019 examination of the basis of morality\u2014 in other words, why is there such a thing as good and evil, and why does it matter?<\/p>\n \u201cThis is where I think the most strict atheists find themselves in a real quandary,\u201d Collins argued.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause if they try to argue that our ideas about good and evil are solely driven by evolutionary pressures that have helped us survive, the ultimate consequence of that are that those are fictional concepts\u2014 that we’ve all been hoodwinked into imagining that there is such a thing as good and evil, and that we should stop paying attention to that and do whatever we please. And even the most ardent atheist has trouble with that conclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUnderstanding God’s works in nature\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Today, Collins is outspoken about his Christian faith. He wrote a book in 2006 entitled \u201cThe Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief,\u201d in which he describes how religious faith can motivate and inspire rigorous scientific research.<\/p>\n He and his wife in 2007 founded the non-profit BioLogos Foundation, which aims to foster discussion about harmony between science and biblical faith through articles, podcasts, and other media.<\/p>\n Collins is also a member of the\u00a0Pontifical Academy of Sciences<\/a>, having been appointed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009.<\/p>\n Though Collins said he has only been able to attend one meeting of the Academy at the Vatican since his appointment, he described the meeting as \u201ca fascinating gathering of really world-class scientists of multiple different disciplines.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI’ve found such joy in the ability to bring together the spiritual and the scientific perspectives that I feel this urge to share,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cNot to turn it into too dry an intellectual, philosophical discourse, but to talk about the joy that I have experienced and by God’s grace, in being able to read God’s word in the Bible and understand God’s works in nature.\u201d<\/p>\n Faith and bioethics<\/strong><\/p>\n Amid the global race to develop a vaccine for COVID-19, some pro-life advocates and ethicists have\u00a0expressed concern<\/a>\u00a0that in some cases, scientists may use human fetal tissue derived from aborted babies in their research.<\/p>\n One proposed line of research, led by immunologist Kim Hasenkrug at the NIH Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Montana, aimed to find treatments for COVID-19 by implanting mice with fetal lung tissue, infecting the mice with coronavirus strains similar to COVID-19, and testing for successful treatments.<\/p>\n The Department of Health and Human Services, NIH\u2019s parent agency, last year imposed a moratorium on NIH fetal tissue research derived from elective abortions, meaning Hasenkrug\u2019s research will not go forward barring any changes in NIH guideleines.<\/p>\n The new\u00a0guideline<\/a>s, which NIH released in July 2019, halt new NIH research with aborted fetal tissue and limited funding of \u201cextramural\u201d research\u2014 or tests conducted outside the NIH\u2014 on aborted fetal tissue. Grant applicants to the NIH must indicate why their research goals \u201ccannot be accomplished using an alternative to HFT\u201d and what methods they have used to determine that no alternatives can be used.<\/p>\n For his part, Collins says he considers the question of whether it is ethical to use human embryos and aborted fetuses for research is an \u201cimportant issue to think through carefully.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI would be the first to say we should not be creating or destroying embryos\u2014 human embryos\u2014 for research, and we should not be terminating pregnancies for research,\u201d Collins told CNA.<\/p>\n Collins differs from Catholic teaching on research involving frozen embryos.<\/p>\n \u201cBut if there are embryos that are left over after in vitro fertilization\u2014 and\u00a0the hundreds of thousands<\/a>\u00a0that are never going to be used for anything, they’ll be discarded\u2014 I think it is ethical to consider ways in which research might make it possible to utilize that information to help somebody.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd likewise, if there are hundreds of thousands of fetuses that are otherwise being discarded through what is a legal process in this country, we ought to think about whether it is more ethical to throw them away, or in some rare instance to use them for research that might be life saving.\u201d<\/p>\n The 2008 Vatican document\u00a0Dignitatis personae<\/a><\/em>\u00a0states that \u201cthe obtaining of stem cells from a living human embryo\u2026invariably causes the death of the embryo and is consequently gravely illicit.\u201d<\/p>\n That document also strongly criticized aborted fetal tissue research, but regarding common vaccines\u2014such as those for chicken pox and measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR)\u2014that are derived from cell lines of aborted babies, the Vatican said they could be used by parents for \u201cgrave reasons\u201d such as danger to their children\u2019s health.<\/p>\n The document goes on to state that \u201ceveryone has the duty to make known their disagreement and to ask that their healthcare system make other types of vaccines available.\u201d<\/p>\n