Your argument works here “liberal humanist” ( when did those become bad things? ) Canada. One of the reasons there hasn’t been such a push for the teaching of creationism *cough* intelligent design in Canadian schools is the general acceptance that if you are going to teach a faith based view on how we came to be, you can’t discriminate on which faith you teach; you have to teach ALL origin stories.

But in the “God fearing” and “God blessed” ( seems contradictory to me, but then I’m a liberal humanist with pagan leanings 😉 ) United States of America, shutting out other faiths is the point. After all, they are *right* as they see it. There is only one truth, and that is theirs as told to them by the God in the bible ( as edited by various publishers and interpreted by various televangelists to be sure – but still the True word of God.)

What can we that don’t live in a borderline theocracy learn from this?

That we need to do a much better job of teaching not scientific fact and results… but of teaching what science IS. The anti science arguments so prevalent south of the border ( and yes here too, to a lesser degree ) misinterpret and misunderstand what science is and how it works, deleberately or otherwise. The “theory” of evolution is not the same as just a theory in general meaning. The “theory” of intelligent design is , in scientific terminology, not a theory, but an untestable hypothesis. The fact that scientists are never 100% certain doesn’t mean that they don’t know. It means that science is much more particular about certainty than other areas of human endeavour ( indeed, faith is all about being 100% certain, no matter what – the opposite of scientific discovery. )

You and I understand these distinctions. But you and I are science geeks. Most people aren’t and don’t really understand the process. They read in the paper the latest “scientific study” that says fruit syrup causes warts and aren’t able to understand or evaluate the quality of the study, or the difference between pie in the sky guessing and rigourous establishment of scientific fact.

The better people are educated about what science is and how it works, the better they will be able to see that science doesn’t threaten faith…and that most anti science attacks are not an attempt to protect faith, but actually an attack on peoples freedom of thought and belief.