In July I wrote a post entitled God and Science which was prompted by Francis Collins book, The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence of Belief. Collins, a Christian, outlines how a scientist-believer can integrate science and faith.

Now Time Magazine has interviewed Dr. Collins and Richard Dawkins. Collins is Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute and Dawkins is Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science, Oxford University.

Dawkins has just published a new book entitled The God Delusion which according to Richard Dawkins.Net website “offers exhilarating insight into the advantages of atheism to the individual and society, not the least of which is a clearer, truer appreciation of the universe’s wonders than any faith could ever muster. ”

Dawkins, an aethist and a scientist, and Collins, a Christian and a scientist set the stage for Time Magazine’s 90 minute debate held at their corporate headquarters on Sept. 30, 2006. Time published excerpts from the debate in this week’s edition; you can read the excepts of God vs. Science at Time’s magazine site.

Dawkins is an extremist, and represents a group of individuals who reject religious beliefs, and instead rely on nature and science to answer the profound questions that have always intriqued us. Collins, on the other hand, is NOT an extremist. He like, Stephen Jay Gould, is presenting the case that science and religion can exist side-by-side, and that a person can be a practicing scientist, as well as a practicing Christian. Collins feels, however, that Gould has build too solid a wall between religion and science. There are extremists on the religious side that reject any scientific claims that show that Bilblical scripture might be “wrong” such as envisioned in creation science or intelligent design.

Thus, the content of the interview is ripe for discussions in science and science education courses because it challenges us to try and understand the nature of science, and scientific research, and at the same time examine religion from a critical point of view. The interview sheds light on discussions that nearly never take place in a science class. Granted, the topic does tread on ground that has gotten teachers in hot water in the past, but I think that there is a place in science education for this kind of discussion.

For example, Dawkins thinks that Darwin’s theory of evolution does more than contradict the Genesis story. Some people would say that evolutionary theory does not contradict Genesis, even though there may be some transgressions in Genesis in terms of which organisms emerged first, and so forth. Collins does not see any incompatability with God having designed it all. Looking at evolution and Genesis (as in the Bible) or genesis stories from other religious traditions would be an interesting project. What do you think?