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U.S. NEWS Friday 29 May 2020
For top U.S. virus experts, faith and science work together

Continued from Front ons are safe as they gather
and pray.” The president
While tensions over public spoke as the CDC released
worship’s effect on public recommendations for safe
health amid the pande- reopening of physical religi-
mic – with President Donald ous services, and faith ga-
Trump declaring religious therings that occurred this
services “essential” – per- week largely operated with
sonal spirituality, in all of its safeguards in place to help
forms, remains an unques- prevent the virus’ spread.
tioned guidepost for some Fauci’s faith has shifted
scientists guiding the U.S. from the path of his Catho-
response. lic upbringing to what he
Redfield said that during has described as a huma-
major crises he’s faced, nist belief system. The 36-
such as his role responding year veteran chief of the
to 2010’s Haiti earthquake National Institute of Allergy
and the death of his son, and Infectious Diseases told
his faith had helped orient C-SPAN in 2015 that “I’m
him toward the potential less enamored of organi-
for “greater good” to arise zed religion than I am with
from tragedy. Faith and sci- the principles of humanity
ence have not been in ten- and goodness to mankind
sion for him, Redfield said. In this Thursday, May 7, 2020 file photo, National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins listens and doing the best that
During the early weeks of during a Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on new coronavirus you can.”
tests on Capitol Hill in Washington.
the pandemic, the 68-year- Associated Press While Fauci distanced
old virologist was not as himself from organized reli-
much of a fixture at the Redfield “filter out the noise Logos Foundation to help of American faith commu- gion in that 2015 interview,
televised White House brie- and distraction” of the further a dialogue about nities for treating the pan- he has described himself as
fings as Fauci, his fellow Ca- push to contain the virus, religion’s relationship to sci- demic as an opportunity Catholic and told C-SPAN
tholic. But Redfield’s mode- Blattner added, affording ence. Since the pandemic to live out their values by his Jesuit education had
sty is itself a facet of how his “him, and us, the ability to began, he has received a helping the vulnerable, ad- helped develop the “prin-
faith plays out in his public see more clearly.” major religion prize for his ding that “most of that lo- ciples that I run my life by.”
persona, as his longtime Redfield was tapped by work. ving and altruistic behavior Those principles came into
friend William Blattner put it. Trump, while Collins and “I see science as the most doesn’t get much attenti- sharper view this month
Redfield sees people of Fauci’s stints as govern- reliable way to study na- on.” He also offered careful when Fauci recorded a vi-
faith as “not holier than ment scientists predate ture – and that includes this criticism for the “occasio- deo for graduates of high
anybody – we’re just who 2016. Collins, for his part, virus,” Collins said by email. nal examples of churches schools affiliated with the
we are,” said Blattner, who was already a vocal ad- “But science doesn’t help who reject the scientific Jesuits, a Catholic order
co-founded University of vocate for communicating me with deeper questions conclusions and demand that focuses on service.
Maryland’s Institute of Hu- what he sees as the consi- like why suffering exists, the right to continue to After citing “precision of
man Virology alongside stency between religious what we are supposed to assemble freely, even in thought and economy of
Redfield and a third promi- belief and evidence-based learn from it, what is the me- the face of evidence that expression” as two watch-
nent AIDS researcher, Ro- science before he was aning of life, and whether this endangers their whole words, he invoked “social
bert Gallo, in the mid-1990s. named to lead NIH. there is a loving God who community.” justice” as another value
“You don’t see him jum- After writing a 2006 book grieves with us at a time like Trump on Friday called for instilled by his Jesuit edu-
ping up to the micropho- about his journey from this,” he added. “For that, I governors to allow in-per- cation. Fauci graduated
ne. You see him speaking youthful atheism to belief rely on what I have learned son worship, vowing that in 1958 from New York’s
as he’s required,” Blattner in God, the 70-year-old as a person of faith.” “faith leaders will make Regis High School, a Jesuit
said of his friend. Faith helps Collins founded the Bio- Collins lauded the majority sure that their congregati- institution.q

Court denies request to revive U.S. pipeline permit program

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A lines across wetlands and ting program in 2017. Its
U.S. appeals court on Thurs- other water bodies with continued use could cause
day turned down a request minimal review if they meet serious harm to protected
by the Trump administration certain criteria. species and critical wildlife
and energy industry groups Backed by numerous states habitat, he said.
to revive a permit program and industry groups, attor- A two-judge panel of the
for new oil and gas pipe- neys for the government 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Ap-
lines that had been can- argued the cancellation peals denied an emergen-
celed by a lower court. would delay construction cy request to block Morris'
The case originated with a of pipelines needed to de- ruling.
challenge to the Keystone liver fuel to power plants They said in a one-page
XL oil pipeline from Canada and other destinations. decision that the govern-
to the U.S. but has affected U.S. District Judge Brian ment, states and industry
oil and gas pipeline pro- Morris in Montana said May groups had not demon-
posals across the nation. 11 that officials had failed strated sufficient harm to In this April 13, 2020, photo provided by TC Energy, construction
contractors for TC Energy are seen installing a section of the
The U.S. Army Corps of En- to adequately consult with their interests to justify reviv- Keystone XL crude oil pipeline at the U.S.-Canada border north
gineers permitting program wildlife agencies before ing the program while the of Glasgow, Mont.
allows construction of pipe- reauthorizing the permit- case is still pending. q Associated Press