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“One of the great tragedies of our time is this impression that has been created that science and religion have to be at war,” said Collins, 56. “I don’t see that as necessary at all and I think it is deeply disappointing that the shrill voices that occupy the extremes of this spectrum have dominated the stage for the past 20 years.”

I agree. I'm a practicing Christian; but I believe God reveals Himself in His creation as well as the Bible. That is uncomfortable because some portions of the early new Testament are incompatible with what God has apparently revealed in his creation.

It would be comfortable to interpret the Bible literally. But I don't find that option available for much of Genesis. Our ancestors have been around for longer than 6,000 years. There was no worldwide flood and all living creatures do not descend from two of each type on the Ark. Where did the people Adam and Eve met after they were thrown out of Eden come from?

So I have to accept that The Pentateuch is mostly oral history committed to writing perhaps thousands of years after the oral history started and that some of the stuff was revelation tied to what stone age folks were able to understand. Some inaccuracies crept in over the centuries. So the story of Eden is, I believe, a true metaphor. That is, God created man to have one kind of relationship with him. We sinned and fell. The consequence was death. It probably didn't happen in precisely the way described in Genesis.

This, by the way is in stark contrast to the New Testament, which is either eyewitness testimony or "as-told-to" type testimony. The apologetics case for the Resurrection is overwhelming. As Jesus referred back to the sin of Adam and to old testament scripture, we must give them meaning that is consistent with what we know from God's revelation of Himself thru His creation. The simple literal interpretation does not always work to achieve that.

On the other hand, it doesn't make a lot of difference in my faith how that comes out. The FACT of the resurrection is the core of Christianity; and that stands without a serious challeged despite two centuries of attacks by humanists. Everything else is detail.