Well said, indeed. I was something of a fan of Huckabee until when asked in their first debate, “Who here does not believe in evolution?” and he raised is hand. We’ve had more than enough of anti-intellectuals in office and so I cannot support anyone who disputes the sciences.

Note that Brownback did not answer the question regarding his assessment of the status of evolution with his comments. The only thing he revealed is: 1) He thinks ‘microevolution’ happened. 2) He rejects the entirely ‘materialistic’, deterministic view of origins. Note that ‘materialism’ is a buzzword for the ideological ‘war’ drummed up by the Discovery Institute. What he didn’t mention was something basic like whether he thought humans and apes shared a common ancestor. The main point: You don’t have to disbelieve in a literal, six-day creation to still completely miss the boat. And frankly, given the current administration’s repeated denial of uncomfortable scientific information, I’m not happy with Brownback’s recent sidestepping on evolution.

I’m a little confused by your description of Brownback’s clarification as “side-stepping.” He basically stated that he believes God created the universe, but that God didn’t choose to tell us exactly how. Common descent is only one part of evolutionary theory, but you appear to have it as a personal litmus test. That is an excellent example of the artificial wedge between faith and science which he addressed in his NY Times editorial.

Most of the Christians I’ve met in my life (as opposed to those encountered in the news media) did not believe in “Creationism” except in the metaphoric, non-literal sense referred to in your post.I’m 52, and honestly, growing up in the mid-60′s, I didn’t know there were people who disbelieved in the theory of evolution until the first time I saw Spencer Tracy square off against Frederic March in “Inherit the Wind.” (Favorite lines – the exchange about whether a sponge thinks.)

0 x 0 = Atheism. Whether Darwinian or just the plain need to justify hedonism, whatever happened during the beginning, some “thing” started it and the non-godians go to great lengths to prove their insanity is somehow “logic” based.The Christians, on the other hand, have handled the origin of the universe well.