It must be true... it's in The New York Times:
He drives a Harley-Davidson, wears a black leather jacket on his back and his religion on his sleeve, and plays a custom guitar with big-name rock stars.
All that would seem to have nothing to do with Dr. Francis S. Collins’s day job as the new director of the National Institutes of Health. Except that at the institutes, such things do matter.
Already known for his leadership of the Human Genome Project (part of the health institutes), Dr. Collins, 59, is settling in after nearly two months on the job but still contends with controversies that follow him like the exhaust from his hog.
First, there is the God issue. Dr. Collins believes in him. Passionately. And he preaches about his belief in churches and a best-selling book. For some presidential appointees, that might not be a problem, but many scientists view such outspoken religious commitment as a sign of mild dementia.
In his book “The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief,” Dr. Collins writes that his path to faith started at the bedside of a woman with severe angina. When she asked what he believed, he says he flushed and stammered, and realized he needed to investigate the question of whether there is a God. After nearly two years, he decided there was.
Critics like the physicist Robert L. Park contend that the moment was nothing but a hormonal rush. That a man with a medical degree and a Ph.D. in chemistry failed to diagnose the problem and instead gave it higher meaning “is enough to cause concern,” said Dr. Park, a professor at the University of Maryland noted for his attacks on “voodoo science.”
Dr. Irving L. Weissman, director of the Stanford Institute of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, said he was nervous about the appointment until Dr. Collins promised in a phone call not to let faith interfere with scientific judgment. But Dr. Weissman said that when therapeutic cloning proved successful, as he predicted it would, Dr. Collins would face a conflict between his job and his faith.
“There will be a moment of truth for Dr. Collins,” Dr. Weissman said.
In a recent interview over French toast at a diner near the agency’s sprawling campus here, Dr. Collins rejected any notion that faith and science conflicted in substantial ways. Indeed, he said, science illuminates the work and language of God. And he pointed out that he wrote in his book about God that he supports therapeutic cloning. When his book on personalized medicine comes out early next year, he hopes to move the conversation about his writings back to science.
“I have made it clear that I have no religious agenda for the N.I.H.,” he said, “and I think the vast majority of scientists have been reassured by that and have moved on.”
Refreshing isn't it to see the MSM finally delving into Obama's appointees?
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