Francis Collins is a man of science. As a physician-geneticist, he led the Human Genome Project, one of the most significant scientific endeavors of our time. His groundbreaking work has shaped modern medicine and biology. Yet, despite his scientific achievements, Collins’s personal journey from atheism to Christianity is a story of intellectual humility and a search for ultimate truth.

The Atheist Scientist

Collins grew up in a secular household in rural Virginia. His parents were free-thinking intellectuals who valued education and the arts but had little interest in religion. As a young man, Collins adopted their skepticism. By the time he entered medical school, he identified as an atheist.

“I assumed that faith was something people turned to because they were weak,” Collins later admitted. “Science, I believed, had all the answers.”

As a scientist, Collins embraced the belief that the physical world could be fully explained through natural processes. He was confident that science and religion were incompatible and that belief in God was unnecessary in an age of reason.

A Challenging Question

Collins’s skepticism began to crack during his medical residency. As he treated patients with terminal illnesses, he was struck by their unwavering faith. Many of these individuals faced death with a sense of peace and hope that Collins couldn’t understand.

One day, a patient challenged him directly. “Doctor,” she asked, “what do you believe?” Collins was stunned. He realized he had never seriously considered the question. As a scientist, he prided himself on following the evidence, yet he had dismissed faith without investigation. This moment of self-reflection set him on a path to explore the foundations of his disbelief.

A Scientist’s Investigation

Collins decided to approach the question of God’s existence as he would any scientific problem. He read widely, studying the works of thinkers from across the philosophical and theological spectrum. One of the books that profoundly impacted him was Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.

Lewis’s logical approach to faith resonated deeply with Collins. The moral argument for God’s existence, in particular, struck a chord. Lewis argued that the universal human sense of right and wrong pointed to a higher moral lawgiver. Collins found this argument compelling. How could morality arise from mere chance and evolution?

“I realized that my atheism was not based on reason,” Collins later wrote. “It was a willful choice to avoid a question I didn’t want to confront.”

Bridging Science and Faith

Collins’s study of science and faith revealed that the two were not mutually exclusive. In fact, he found them to be deeply complementary. As he delved into the complexities of DNA, he saw the hand of a Creator. The elegance and order of the genetic code convinced him that the universe was not an accident but the work of an intelligent designer.

“The more I studied the natural world, the more I found that science could answer the ‘how’ questions, but not the ‘why’ questions,” Collins explained. “Why is there something rather than nothing? Why are we here? Science couldn’t answer those questions, but faith could.”

A Transformative Moment

Collins’s journey to faith reached its climax during a hike in the Cascade Mountains. Surrounded by the breathtaking beauty of nature, he felt an overwhelming sense of God’s presence. In that moment, he surrendered his life to Christ.

“I knelt in the dewy grass and said a simple prayer of surrender,” Collins recalled. “I had been resisting for so long, but at that moment, I knew I could resist no longer.”

What Persuaded Him?

Several factors contributed to Collins’s journey from atheism to faith:

The Moral Argument: Collins found Lewis’s argument for a universal moral law compelling. The existence of objective morality pointed to a transcendent source.

The Fine-Tuning of the Universe: As a scientist, Collins was struck by the precision of the physical constants that make life possible. This fine-tuning suggested intentional design.

The Beauty of Nature: Collins saw the natural world as a reflection of God’s creativity and majesty. The intricacies of DNA, in particular, pointed to a divine Creator.

The Example of Others: The faith and peace of his patients challenged Collins to reconsider his assumptions about religion.

A Life of Faith and Science

Since his conversion, Collins has become a leading voice in the dialogue between science and faith. As the director of the National Institutes of Health, he has shown that faith and reason can coexist harmoniously. His book, The Language of God, explores the relationship between science and spirituality, offering a perspective that is both intellectually rigorous and deeply personal.

Collins’s story is a powerful testament to the compatibility of faith and science. His journey from atheism to Christianity demonstrates that belief in God is not a rejection of reason but an embrace of a fuller understanding of reality. For Collins, faith is not a leap in the dark; it is the light that illuminates the path.