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"The root of the problem is that "science" has two distinct definitions in our culture. On the one hand, science refers to a method of investigation involving things like careful measurements, repeatable experiments, and especially a skeptical, open-minded attitude that insists that all claims be carefully tested. Science also has become identified with a philosophy known as materialism or scientific naturalism. This philosophy insists that nature is all there is, or at least the only thing about which we can have any knowledge. It follows that nature had to do its own creating, and that the means of creation must not have included any role for God. Students are not supposed to approach this philosophy with open-minded skepticism, but to believe it on faith."

"The reason the theory of evolution is so controversial is that it is the... main scientific prop---for scientific naturalism. Students first learn that "evolution is a fact," and then they gradually learn more and more about what that "fact" means. It means that all living things are the product of mindless material forces such as chemical laws, natural selection, and random variation. So God is totally out of the picture, and humans (like everything else) are the accidental product of a purposeless universe. Do you wonder why a lot of people suspect that these claims go far beyond the available evidence?"

Students first learn that "evolution is a fact," and then they gradually learn more and more about what that "fact" means.

Not I. I first learned how to say five "Hail Mary's", Glory Be's, Confiteor's, Acts of Contrition and Our Father's. I was then told that the Earth was created in 6 days. I was told that I was born with the "stain" of original sin and had to be baptized or I would go to hell if I died. When I began to ask questions about the age of fossils and how they contradicted Biblical teaching, I was told that only the faithful go to heaven.

What is wrong with this picture? I was not born believing that evolution was a "fact." I discovered that natural selection made abundant sense by explaining why some species exist and why some go extinct. It it a marvelous interplay of genetics, the environment and selective pressures exerted on organisms which influence how they either adapt or do not over time. What evolution really speaks to is time. It does not alienate those who wish to still give God the credit although I do not. It is simply a science which is empirically based and seeks to answer questions. Some questions are answered, some are not. But, none are turned away- - -even those dealing with how the ball got rolling.