Pew Forum Weekly

Obama Chooses Francis Collins to Head NIH: Resources on Faith and Science

President Barack Obama has announced that he will nominate Francis S. Collins, the former director of the Human Genome Project, to be the new director of the National Institutes of Health. Collins, an evangelical Christian, was a featured speaker at the Pew Forum's May 2009 Faith Angle Conference, where he spoke about why he believes religion and science can exist in harmony. Other Pew Forum resources on the relationship between faith and science include a 2008 Q&A with Collins and resources on bioethics.

In addition, the Pew Forum's sister project, The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, today released a survey on public attitudes toward science.

The Debate Over Same-Sex Marriage

On July 7, the District of Columbia enacted a new law recognizing gay marriages performed in other jurisdictions. The D.C. law marks the latest in a flurry of recent gay marriage activity across the nation. The Pew Forum has updated its extensive resources on same-sex marriage, including an overview of the debate, the latest public opinion, religious groups' views, international laws and more. See more gay marriage resources »