text: When I found out Francis Collins has written a book about his faith, I ordered it the same day.  After all, we seemed to be following the same path.  I earned a PhD in Molecular Biology in 1981 and had several `firsts' in the area of gene cloning.  Then I found Christ as a 40-year-old.  My transition was from a semi-serious Jew to a Materialist to a serious Christian.  Hearing about Dr. Collins' spiritual walk had me intrigued.
  
  His book should be entitled "a Politician Presents Evidence for Belief".  It is a completely uncritical view of the last twenty years of biological research.  The Human Genome Project is elevated to status of "bridge to a momentous new era".  Hogwash.  Hype is the term I would use.  The Dept. of Energy was duped into footing the bill because the National Institutes of Health saw it as a waste of resources.  The author couldn't make a better case for the payoff than to show humans have more `junk DNA' than previously thought.
  
  Dr. Collins then explained Darwinian gradualism as if it were dogma.  This oversimplification is typical of those who never studied Biology except at a Medical School.  This is not entirely his fault, however, since many scientific journals will not publish research where evolution isn't perfectly gradual and perfectly random.  Their motivation should be perfectly obvious, but it's not even on Dr. Collins' radar.  He also uses Mendel's peas as a pivotal point in our understanding of genetics, assuming the reader would be ignorant that Mendel's data was `dry-labbed'.
  
  Usually an author who writes on this subject is strong in either Biology or Theology.  Dr. Collins relies on two sources for his treatise on Theology: St. Augustine and  C.S. Lewis.  I happen to agree with him that the Creation Story and the books of Job and Song of Solomon have a "lyrical and allegorical flavor".  I would include the Book of Jonah in that category as well.  However, there is an entire literature on the subject that is completely overlooked.
  
  The only time Dr. Collins makes a strong case for anything, it is to refute Edward O Wilson, Richard Dawkins, and their minions.  Even then, he uses a quote from the late Stephen Jay Gould for his most scathing criticism.  Francis Collins is the consummate politician--he takes a stand without offending anyone.  
  
  Dr. Collins knows that Jesus was not a politician, and He did not worry about offending the intellectual elites of his time. Take this quote from Mat 23:14 "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation."  Dr. Collins' book claims to be a middle ground for theists and scientists.  In my opinion it is a  piece of fluff and a narcissistic retelling of the Human Genome Project myth.
  