Marvin Olasky, in an article at Townhall.com, makes a simple request: that Dr. Francis Collins, former leader of the Human Genome Project and President Obama’s recent nominee to direct the National Institutes of Health, come to King’s College in the Empire State Building and spend an hour discussing Darwinism and ID with Dr. Stephen Meyer of the Discovery Institute. Mr. Olasky states,
What I and many others need help with is the science. I’ll put it simply and personally: I like Collins and find him convincing as he attacks ID. But when I hear Steve Meyer, author of Signature in the Cell, a major new book published by HarperCollins and reviewed positively by many scientists, expound the flaws in Darwinism, I find him utterly convincing.
I don’t understand the science well enough to ask Collins intelligent follow-up questions, so I’d love to see a discussion between Collins and Meyer. Earlier this year I asked Collins personally if he’d come to The King’s College in the Empire State Building sometime and spend an hour before faculty and students discussing the issues with Meyer: We’d tape it and put excerpts in WORLD. Collins said no, and he has since said no to other entreaties.
I still want to hear two intelligent, influential guys discussing design, so I’m asking Collins publicly: Please, sir, busy senators and governors and major authors are coming to King’s these days, and I suspect you too will be coming to Manhattan sometime. Whenever you do, can you spare an hour?
Can Dr. Collins spare an hour? What would he have to lose in an honest discussion about Darwinism and ID with Dr. Meyer if his position is tenable? Dr. Collins is obviously interested in the subject, to the point that he has written a book, The Language of God, and instituted a website called Biologos furthering his belief in theistic evolution. Surely he can spare one hour and grant Olasky’s request?