Coyne: Collins should resign just because!

Jerry Coyne, somewhat militant atheist, yesterday argued that Francis Collins, "the most important scientist in the US" according to Coyne himself, should resign.

I say argued. That's pushing it. I'm not very familiar with Coyne, so I apologise if I misrepresent him, but my impression from browsing his blog now and a couple of times in the past, is that my designation of "somewhat militant atheist" is accurate. By militant I mean that he's hostile to religion and would like to see it go away. And that, I think, colours his treatment of what Collins has to say and what he represents.

In this instance Coyne is protesting a book that Collins has edited called Belief: Readings on the Reason for Faith. The book basically argues that faith and reason, including science, aren't in opposition, but are compatible. Coyne disagrees, naturally, and levels a couple of strained, uncharitable and, in my unsurprising opinion, not very convincing arguments against the publisher's description and Collins' introduction.

But the arguments aren't what's important. People disagree of these things. Coyne and Collins represent two different sides of the arguments. It's only towards the end of the blog that things get interesting. Moving away from the specific philosophical questions, Coyne turns his attention to the principle. Francis Collins is employed by the American government in one of the most public positions in all of science. And because of this foray into religion, Coyne thinks Collins should resign.

Enough is enough.  Collins is director of the NIH, and is using his office to argue publicly that scientific evidence—the Big Bang, the “Moral Law” and so forth—points to the existence of a God.  That is blurring the lines between faith and science: exactly what I hoped he would not do when he took his new job.

... He’s the chief government scientist, but he won’t stop conflating science and faith.  He had his chance, and he blew it.  He should step down.

It's a very serious thing to call for the resignation of a public figure like that, even in these Tea Party days. You better have some good arguments to back it up if you do. Does Coyne have those arguments? No, not in my humble opinion.

Coyne presents two arguments, one more explicit than the other.

First, he points to public opinion and how Christianity dominates American culture. Because of this dominance, Collins gets away with saying that science, properly understood, fits with Christianity. Coyne points out that if Collins made the same claim about atheism, Scientology or Islam, people would be outraged. That's probably true. But so what? What sort of argument is that? And coming from an atheist? From a scientist? Surely Coyne agrees that public opinion is irrelevant when it comes to assessing the merit of ideas and significance of scientific discoveries, regardless of whether that opinion is for or against that merit and significance. What Coyne is saying, really, is that, in a hypothetical situation, Collins' interpretation of scientific discoveries would create outrage. And so he should resign. I'm sorry, but that's just not reasonable.

The other, more implied argument, is that it's wrong to blur the lines between science and religion, wrong to conflate the two. And since Collins did just that by editing and writing in the book in question, he should resign. First, it is true that Collins does indeed blur the lines, in as much as he lets his science inform his faith and vice versa. I'm not sure, since I haven't read Coyne's book (which, now that you mention it, I probably should - it looks good), but something tells me that Coyne does the same, drawing atheistic implications from science. If I'm wrong correct me. But whatever the case might be, it's a very large jump from disagreeing with the way someone sees the relationship between science and religion, to calling for the resignation of that person. It's not a merited jump. As far as I know, Collins hasn't violated any contractual terms. In fact, the case can be made that he is fulfilling his role as furthering the acceptance and understanding of the sciences by making them more acceptable for religious people. I know that Coyne disagrees with this and that's his right, of course. But, again, the leap from disagreeing with the opinion of a public figure to calling for their resignation is unmerited and, I think, going way, way too far. It's hubris to do so.

I'm sorry Dr. Coyne, but appealing to hypothetical outrage is not good enough. Simply assuming and asserting that your conception of things is the right one and anyone disagreeing with that conception isn't fit for a public position isn't good enough either. It's your right to disagree, even vehemently, with Dr. Collins. That's fine. But calling for his resignation on that basis? I'm sorry, but that's completely unreasonable.