So they were talking about the Constitution today on the radio, and I was struck by this thought:  The Constitution and the Bible are viewed in very similar lights by most people.  What I mean is, most people who have a high view of the Bible as unchanging and inerrant also have a high view of the Constitution as foundational to our government.  Not only the written words but the authors' intent and vision is carefully scrutinized.  On the other hand, many of the same people with a low view of the Bible as irrelevant or only valuable as literature, also hold a similar view of the Constitution.  Its rules and laws may have formed the foundation of our government and society, but we've grown beyond that now, and its words must be interpreted differently today.

This probably isn't too surprising, given that many of the framers of the Constitution were devout men of faith who used the wisdom and principles they found in the Bible as a framework for their work.  I'm not sure if it's too late to turn the ship around, but it's clear just by looking out the window just how far we've strayed from both of them. 

A note on Vern's Facebook the other day reminded me of this debate.  Specifically, why is it that "Darwinists" are so concerned about extinction of species, when their philosophy should conclude "oh well, survival of the fittest", while Christians tend to present a cavalier attitude toward the earth in spite of God's command to care for it?

Another thing that's backwards is the criticism (by evolutionists) of Christians as "close-minded", when Christians will generally be willing to openly discuss origin issues that evolutionists simply assume or demand must be true.  If the alternative to evolution is Intelligent Design, and a Design demands a Designer, then in their minds evolution is simply true by definition, as the alternative is to believe in a god.  Never mind the serious, sincere questions about gaping holes in evolution, such as:

1.  How does the theory of evolution solve the issue of significant gaps in the fossil record?  Many of the "transitional forms" that have been trumpeted about in the last 100 years or so have been subsequently debunked; likewise, there is apparently no explanation for the so-called "Cambrian Explosion", in which thousands of new species popped up virtually overnight.
2.  How reasonable is it to base an entire species or subspecies on a single skeleton, fossil or fragment - or even a small population?  If you dug up Manute Bol and Danny DeVito in a million years and compared them, would you conclude they were of the same species?
3.  In terms of genetics, just because in a laboratory we can genetically engineer bacteria and viruses, *possibly* creating new species in the process, how does that at all demonstrate macro-evolution as a fact?  In fact, it should demonstrate a) the involvement (necessity?) of an external designer to make such sweeping changes, and b) just how monumentally HARD it is to actually do!

(Note that these are *my* questions - yours may be different...  And I'm sure there are many others that could be asked...)

Thank you, AT&T - yes, the whole company, not just the two intrepid souls you dispatched to our porch this evening - for your gracious understanding while I evaluate your incredible product offers.

• Thank you for ringing our doorbell - conveniently located just beside the "No Soliciting" sign - and producing a cacophony of barking from the dog, causing Leslie and I to get up from the dinner table mid-bite - she to deal with the dog and I to address the front door.
• Thank you for the gracious offer of DSL service that, even at 8 Mbit, is only about two-thirds the speed of our cable connection.  I was also quite shocked to hear how cable internet is "shared with my neighbors" while DSL is dedicated bandwidth.  I certainly hope that doesn't mean my neighbor is going to hack my Wi-Fi or something.
• Thank you for the gracious offer of television service that is roughly equivalent to our existing cable package, except with a set-top box that has to stream and decode the television signal, resulting in slower DSL service and occasionally laggy television.  Your DVR sounds quite intriguing, but I've already got a Media Center PC so I know all about that sort of stuff, and I can already record as many simultaneous shows as your DVR, including HD - which you didn't even mention.  Oh, and I can copy recorded shows to another computer when my hard drive is full, so I'm not limited to 30 hours or whatever your box offers.
• Thanks as well for the offer of unlimited local and long distance telephone service.  Besides our cell phones, our Vonage service gives us more minutes than we ever use in a month.
• Most of all, thank you for the offer of all of the above, bundled together for my convenience, for the low, low "introductory" price of just $15 more per month than I'm currently paying for the equivalent services.  I'll be jumping right on that.

Not.