Editor’s note: This article is adapted from Stockholm Syndrome Christianity: Why Christian Leaders Are Failing — and What We Can Do About It, by John West, just released by Discovery Institute Press.

For nearly two decades, geneticist Francis Collins has been the most prominent — and powerful — evangelical Christian scientist in America. After leading the Human Genome Project (and being on the cover of Time Magazine), Collins served as Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for 12 years (2009-2021). He then became acting White House Science Advisor in the Biden Administration.

Collins has been celebrated by many of his fellow evangelicals because of his acceptance by the secular establishment. But I think those Christians might have been wise to reflect on why the establishment has been so approving of Collins.

No Worries

In 2019 the journal Science noted that when Collins originally was appointed as NIH Director by President Barack Obama, some worried “that his outspoken Christian faith would influence his leadership.” But Science went on to assureits readers that the critics need not have worried: “His religion never became an issue — he followed Obama’s order to loosen rules for stem cell research, which some Christians oppose, and has defended fetal tissue research despite criticism from antiabortion groups.”

A journalist at Slate put it even more bluntly: “If Collins’ faith mollifies even a few political conservatives who would otherwise continue to waste time and money fighting research efforts that violate their specific religious tenets, then the benefits of his faith should outweigh whatever qualms scientists might have.”

For more than a decade, Collins served the secularists’ agenda at NIH by providing cover for them to do what they wanted to do anyway. As I document in my new book, he championed embryonic stem cell research, the harvesting of baby parts from late term abortions for scientific research, the marginalization of Christian scientists who are skeptical of unguided Darwinian evolution, the embrace of the LGBTQIA+ movement, and most recently, the demonization and persecution of Christians who had conscience issues with the COVID vax. 

The sad reality is that it’s precisely because of Collins’s embrace of the secularist agenda that he rose to the top. He is an example of what I call in my new book a “Stockholm Syndrome Christian.” He sincerely identifies as a Christian in his personal life, but the policy views of his public life don’t really reflect that personal commitment. Indeed, his policy views are closer to the views of secular materialists than to those of his fellow believers.

A Much Broader Problem

Collins is indicative of a much broader problem facing Christians who desire to influence culture. 

Some Christians naïvely think that if only we had more Christians in positions of power our society would be different. In truth, we already have lots of self-identified Christians in government, law, entertainment, and, yes, even science. 

The problem is that far too many of them are Stockholm Syndrome Christians like Collins. So their faith is neutered. 

Most Christians in America grow up in cultural captivity. They are immersed in a culture hostile to historic Christianity at home, school, college, and the workplace. This is especially true of those who go on to be professors, journalists, filmmakers, politicians, and, indeed, scientists. After they have been immersed for years in an elite culture that rejects historic Christianity, they can easily start identifying more with that elite culture than with their own faith.

Until we understand the problem, we won’t be able to solve it.