海角大神

The relationship between faith and science has faced its share of strain during the coronavirus pandemic 鈥� but for some medical scientists leading the nation's response, the two have worked in concert.

National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins founded a nonprofit focused on 鈥渢he harmony between science and biblical faith.鈥澛� NIH鈥檚 senior infectious disease specialist, has said he isn't active in organized religion but credited his Jesuit schooling with burnishing the values that drive his public service.

And Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, describes his faith and his public health work as mutually reinforcing.

鈥淥ne of the great things about faith is, you can approach life with a sense of hope 鈥� no matter what the challenges you鈥檙e dealing with, that there鈥檚 a path forward,鈥� Mr. Redfield told The Associated Press.

The influence of faith on some of the government鈥檚 top coronavirus fighters illustrates its complicated connection to science. While tensions over public worship鈥檚 effect on public health arise amid the pandemic 鈥� with President Donald Trump declaring聽religious services 鈥渆ssential鈥� 鈥� personal spirituality, in all of its forms, remains an unquestioned guidepost for some scientists guiding the U.S. response.

Mr. Redfield said that during major crises he's faced, such as his role responding to 2010's Haiti earthquake and the death of his son, his faith had helped orient him toward the potential for 鈥済reater good鈥� to arise from tragedy. Faith and science have not been in tension for him, Mr. Redfield said.

During the early weeks of the pandemic, the virologist was not as much of a fixture at the televised White House briefings as Mr. Fauci, his fellow Catholic. But Mr. Redfield鈥檚 modesty is itself a facet of how his faith plays out in his public persona, as his longtime friend William Blattner put it.

Mr. Redfield sees people of faith as 鈥渘ot holier than anybody 鈥� we鈥檙e just who we are,鈥� said Mr. Blattner, who co-founded University of Maryland鈥檚 Institute of Human Virology alongside Mr. Redfield and a third prominent AIDS researcher, Robert Gallo, in the mid-1990s.

鈥淵ou don鈥檛 see him jumping up to the microphone. You see him speaking as he鈥檚 required,鈥� Mr. Blattner said of his friend. Faith helps Mr. Redfield 鈥渇ilter out the noise and distraction鈥� of the push to contain the virus, Mr. Blattner added, affording 鈥渉im, and us, the ability to see more clearly.鈥�

Mr. Redfield was tapped by Mr. Trump, while Mr. Collins and Mr. Fauci鈥檚 stints as government scientists predate 2016. Mr. Collins, for his part, was already a vocal advocate for communicating what he sees as the consistency between religious belief and evidence-based science before he was named to lead NIH.

After writing a 2006 book about his journey from youthful atheism to belief in God, Mr. Collins founded the BioLogos Foundation to help further a dialogue about religion鈥檚 relationship to science. Since the pandemic began, he has received a major religion prize聽for his work.

鈥淚 see science as the most reliable way to study nature 鈥� and that includes this virus,鈥� Mr. Collins said by email.

鈥淏ut science doesn鈥檛 help me with deeper questions like why suffering exists, what we are supposed to learn from it, what is the meaning of life, and whether there is a loving God who grieves with us at a time like this,鈥� he added. 鈥淔or that, I rely on what I have learned as a person of faith.鈥�

Mr. Collins lauded the majority of American faith communities for treating the pandemic as an opportunity to live out their values by helping the vulnerable, adding that 鈥渕ost of that loving and altruistic behavior doesn鈥檛 get much attention.鈥� He also offered careful criticism for the 鈥渙ccasional examples of churches who reject the scientific conclusions and demand the right to continue to assemble freely, even in the face of evidence that this endangers their whole community.鈥�

Mr.聽Trump on Friday called for governors to allow in-person worship, vowing that 鈥渇aith leaders will make sure that their congregations are safe as they gather and pray.鈥� The president spoke as the CDC released recommendations for safe reopening of physical religious services, and faith gatherings that occurred this week聽largely operated聽with safeguards in place to help prevent the virus鈥� spread.

Mr.聽Fauci鈥檚 faith has shifted from the path of his Catholic upbringing to what he has described as a humanist belief system. The 36-year veteran chief of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases聽told C-SPAN聽in 2015 that 鈥淚'm less enamored of organized religion than I am with the principles of humanity and goodness to mankind and doing the best that you can.鈥�

While Mr.聽Fauci distanced himself from organized religion in that 2015 interview, he has described himself as Catholic and told C-SPAN his Jesuit education had helped develop the 鈥減rinciples that I run my life by." Those principles came into sharper view this month when Mr.聽Fauci recorded聽a video聽for graduates of high schools affiliated with the Jesuits, a Catholic order that focuses on service.

After citing 鈥減recision of thought and economy of expression" as two watchwords, he invoked 鈥渟ocial justice鈥� as another value instilled by his Jesuit education. Mr.聽Fauci graduated in 1958 from New York's Regis High School, a Jesuit institution.

鈥淎nd now is the time, if ever there was one, for us to care selflessly about one another,鈥� Mr.聽Fauci said.

The Rev. Daniel Lahart, president of Regis, hosted Mr.聽Fauci during聽a visit聽to his alma mater last year. He hailed the scientist as a worthy example of a Jesuit education's call for students to dedicate themselves to helping the common good, becoming 鈥渕en and women for others."

鈥淚t is part of who we are, that we take community service, public service, as something essential to what our faith鈥檚 about,鈥� Mr.聽Lahart said.

This story was reported by The Associated Press.

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