Templeton Prize awarded to Francis Collins, pandemic response leader

Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health and recipient of the 2020 Templeton Prize. Photo courtesy of the John Templeton Foundation.

Francis Collins, director of the U.S. government’s National Institutes of Health, was announced the recipient of the 2020 Templeton Prize today. He accepted the prestigious award with a statement affirming his Christian faith amid the intense pressure the coronavirus pandemic has placed on him and his agency:

“As I write this, almost my every waking moment is consumed by the effort to find treatments and a vaccine for COVID-19. The elegant complexity of human biology constantly creates in me a sense of awe. Yet I grieve at the suffering and death I see all around, and at times I confess I am assailed by doubts about how a loving God would permit such tragedies. But then I remember that the God who hung on the cross is intimately familiar with suffering. I learn and re-learn that God never promised freedom from suffering – but rather to be ‘our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble’ (Psalm 46).”

Collins, 70, was chosen for the prize late last year but the announcement was delayed because of the pandemic, the John Templeton Foundation said. The $1.3 million award is the world’s highest honor in science and religion. Collins tweeted that he is honored to be in the company of the prize’s previous winners, which include the 14th Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu and Mother Teresa.

The realization that principles of faith & science are complementary has been of great comfort to me in the search for truth. I am honored to receive the #TempletonPrize2020 & humbled to be among such @TempletonPrize recipients as Mother Teresa, the Dalai Lama, & Desmond Tutu.

— Francis S. Collins (@NIHDirector) May 20, 2020

In his prepared statement, Collins reflected on his unexpected rise as a leading voice in the debate about faith and science. “It is truly gratifying to see and celebrate the community of scientists and believers that have rallied around this joyful synthesis,” he said.

The Foundation’s president, Heather Templeton Dill, said in a statement that Collins exemplifies what the prize is about: 

“In his role as a scientist, government official, and public intellectual, Francis Collins has used his platform to engage groups of diverse perspectives, and encouraged greater curiosity, open-mindedness, and humility among scientists and religious believers with the aim of illuminating a pathway toward, as he has written, ‘a sober and intellectually honest integration’ of the scientific and spiritual perspectives. Dr. Collins embodies the ideals and core convictions that inspired my grandfather, Sir John Templeton, to establish the Templeton Prize in 1972: that rigorous research, especially in the sciences, can help humanity confront the deepest and most challenging questions of existence.”

Collins was nominated to lead the NIH by President Barack Obama in 2009 and unanimously confirmed by the Senate. President Donald Trump reappointed him in 2017. He’s the agency’s longest-serving director. 

Before that, he came to prominence as the leader of the Human Genome Project, which completed the mapping and sequencing of human DNA in 2003. Collins published a bestselling book, The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief, in 2006, which was translated into 24 languages. 

In 2007, he and his wife, Diane Baker, founded the BioLogos Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to promoting dialogue about the complementarity of science and biblical faith. The foundation declares that belief in evolution and belief in God are not mutually exclusive. It publishes articles and podcasts by Christians working in science.

In its announcement, the Templeton Foundation noted that Collins was homeschooled by his parents in Staunton, Virginia until he was 10. He studied chemistry at the University of Virginia and Yale before pivoting to medicine. His spiritual path was even more circuitous. The Foundation said:

“In his youth, Collins wrestled with issues of religion, veering from comfortable agnosticism to unapologetic atheism. But while a third-year medical student serving his residency, he was struck by the power of faith professed by his patients, many of whom faced imminent death. Unable to articulate his own belief, a neighbor, a Methodist minister, introduced him to the writings of C.S. Lewis, the legendary Oxford scholar who himself had tested the tenets of faith through the lens of logic before embracing Christianity. Collins’s journey to Christian belief would evolve and strengthen over the next three decades.”

The foundation also praised Collins for being a voice of reason at the intersection of faith and science at a time when misinformation and distrust abound.

“Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Collins has urged faith communities to trust science while debunking various internet conspiracies, to link inevitable bad news to opportunities for hope, and to remain strong in their faith,” it said. 

The foundation also noted a favorite verse from Joshua 1:9 Collins mentioned in a recent media interview: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

“That encourages me,” said Collins, “and faith leaders can spread that kind of exaltation around in a way that I think will encourage others.”

The prize’s founder, philanthropist Sir John Templeton, was inspired by a “core conviction that there is a deeper level of reality that can be accessed through rigorous research, especially in the sciences,” according to the foundation’s website.

The prize’s description was changed this year to focus it “on research, discovery, public engagement, and religious leadership that advance understanding of and appreciation for the insights of science.”

Collins will formally receive it in a virtual ceremony later this year.

Micah Danney is a Poynter-Koch fellow and a reporter and associate editor for Religion Unplugged. He is an alumnus of the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY and has reported for news outlets in the NYC area, interned at The Times of Israel and covered religion in Israel for the GroundTruth Project.