Sometimes it’s really hard to give the loud, boohooey “Christian Right” the benefit of the doubt when it comes to their antics about governance. Yesterday, three articles made waves among political bloggers: Why I’m Rooting Against the Religious Right, by Christopher Hitchens, The Christian Complex by George F. Will (probably my favorite columnist these days) and Why I’m Rooting for the Religious Right by James Taranto. Valid points made by all, and as usual the truth is somewhere in the middle, but there are days—like today—when I wonder if the benefit of the doubt that I give to these activist Christian groups is well-placed.

When spirituality of any sort encroaches on the magisterium of finding facts—instead of dealing with their moral impact—you get quotes like this:

“They are offering an answer that may be in conflict with religious views,” Harris said in opening the debate. “Part of our overall goal is to remove the bias against religion that is currently in schools. This is a scientific controversy that has powerful religious implications.”

“Sometimes the jokes write themselves,” as my friend said. But mocking aside, these Faithful have lost their way. Faith and Religion deal with the moral implications of discovered facts, not with impeaching facts on the basis of whether the facts fit the literal reading of the Bible.

[Personal note: I've tried, hard to share what I have read from Stephen Jay Gould's writings about Science and Spirituality and how there is NO conflict, but I have been engaged in discussion wherein the premise is that there IS conflict, no matter what attempt is made to show that there isn't, or at least there shouldn't be.

Abiogenesis and the "loving work of God" go hand in hand, in the magesteria of fact-finding, and faith. It's all a matter of admitting that scientifically we can't have an airtight explanation in both verbal and mathematical form on the origins of life, and, on the side of the Christians, a little bit of humility is actually good. That God, or Fred, or whoever, didn't directly create Adam our of dirt isn't an insinuation against our position of being his beloved. That maybe, what these damned scientists who keep trying to prove that there is no God, is actually discovering His work.]