Does Science Make Belief in God Intensely Plausible?

"President Obama has nominated Francis Collins to be the next director of the National Institutes of Health. It would seem a brilliant choice. Dr. Collins’s credentials are impeccable: he is a physical chemist, a medical geneticist and the former head of the Human Genome Project. He is also, by his own account, living proof that there is no conflict between science and religion. In 2006, he published “The Language of God,” in which he claimed to demonstrate “a consistent and profoundly satisfying harmony” between 21st-century science and evangelical Christianity." Read the rest of the story ...

The head of the NIH manages a $30 billion dollar annual budget for science research in the US. With the widespread "scientific illiteracy" of the American public having a man who supports notions and beliefs outside the bounds of scientific evidence is concerning. There is a real risk to the neurosciences, cognitive sciences, and behavioral sciences who all believe that human minds are the products of brains, and brains are the products of evolution. Francis Collins sees it differently. He insists that at some moment in the development of our species God inserted crucial components — including an immortal soul, free will, the moral law, spiritual hunger, genuine altruism, etc.

There are several questions I have about his nomination: Will his belief system guide his funding of research proposals? Will continued funding of ongoing research projects that conflict with his belief system be "de-funded?" How does a man of Dr. Collin's credentials maintain beliefs that are contrary to our scientific knowledge?