July 14, 2009

President Obama has nominated Dr. Francis Collins to head the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Collins is a pioneering geneticist who, among other things, led the government’s successful effort to map human genes. I have heard him speak. He is profound, funny and he is a serious Christian.

That last fact has concerns the pagan New York Times. The Times says there are two basic objections to Dr. Collins’ nomination. “The first is his very public embrace of Christianity. He wrote a book called ‘The Language of God’ and he has given many talks and interviews in which he described his conversion to Christianity as a 27-year-old medical student.”

The problem for the Times is that he takes his faith seriously. If he was a nominal Christian like the president, who holds to the same positions as the secular left, no problem. If he were a Jew or Muslim, no problem. But Collins is a Christian who has said science can learn a lot from God. For this, he is to receive the secular equivalent of the mark of Cain, or scarlet letter.

Everything is to be tolerated these days, except for one: a serious Christian.

Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C.