Abstract

Francis Collins, director of the Human Genome Project (HGP), needs no further introduction I suppose. For more than a decade (from 1993 onwards) he has headed the HGP as director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). One of the highlights in his career was the moment when, on June 26 2000, together with President Clinton and Craig Venter, he announced that the deciphering of the human genome was rapidly approaching its completion. On this occasion, Clinton stated that “today, we are learning the language in which God created life”. In The language of God, Collins not only discloses the fact that he acted as Clinton’s ghost-writer, urging the latter to include these lines (p.3), but he also explains his reasons for doing so. For him, DNA really is the language of God. The book is his “coming out”, so to speak, as a Christian. For Collins, the famous announcement on June 26 of the year 2000 was not only a highlight in the history of the life sciences. It was also a moment of religious significance, a religious “celebration”, an “occasion of worship”.