American religious leaders regularly couch their responses to technological developments, or defend their faith, in scientific terms. They claim for instance, that science validates the Bible, including its account of creation, and that patenting the genetic code is dangerous because genes are the essence of who we are. Such efforts at empirical validation do not elevate religion, Goldberg maintains; rather, they trivialize it and shift the focus away from religion's concerns with values, faith, and humility.

Discussing recent and contentious legal and non-legal conflicts between science and religion, Goldberg raises the timely question of religion's appropriate role in public life today.