Sometimes I like to think I�m evolving. I look at myself today and I look at myself when the girls were born. I�ve changed and I haven�t�and I�m not sure I�m any better today than I was then. But then evolution doesn�t necessarily mean getting better.

Evolution is a hot topic again. Maybe it has been for a long time but somehow fighting it seems more acceptable today. The religious battle itself doesn�t bother me so much. What bothers me is that so often there is a refusal to be open about it and acknowledge that it is a religious battle.

And then there is the linguistic distortions. I�ve been thinking about the linguistic distortions. I�ve been thinking about it as a side line to Day�s (overwhelming) science fair project. There�s something about making a hypothesis, testing it, and then trying to explain what happens that focuses you on science. (Which, much as I hate to admit it, is probably why the school�s biology class puts so much emphasis on the science fair. I just wish they�d wait until the kids were capable of doing much more of it on their own.)

A scientific theory is not just an educated guess. Instead, it is a leaping off point for further investigation and testing. If it is not testable, it is not a scientific theory. Despite how badly we sometimes teach it, science is about the search for truth �the search for truth through testing, intellectual testing.

Religion too is a search for truth. In some ways, it too may be a search through testing. But intellect does not get you very far with that search. Sure, intellect may shape it. But faith, ultimately, has more to do with feelings than intellect. I don�t believe I ever have met anyone who has grappled with religion with intellect alone.

So intelligent design, creationism, and other such do not belong in science class and evolution does. No one in science is designing experiments to test aspects of intelligent design. They can�t. But they are designing experiments to test aspects of the scientific theory of evolution.

And me? My evolution. Not testable. It�s more of an article of faith�but at least I know it.

|