In researching our next topic “Faith in the Public Square”, I stumbled on a 2005 study by Jon D. Miller, Eugenie C. Scott and Shinji Okamoto entitled “Public Acceptance of Evolution.” Their study compared 34 industrialized countries on their public acceptance of evolution. The United States was next-to-last, right ahead of Turkey. This is distinctly bad news for mainstream scientists, but distinctly good news for Intelligent Design proponents.

A snip from the authors’ explanation of the results:

First, the structure and beliefs of American fundamentalism historically differ from those of mainstream Protestantism in both the United States and Europe. The biblical literalist focus of fundamentalism in the United States sees Genesis as a true and accurate account of the creation of human life that supersedes any scientific finding or interpretation. In contrast, mainstream Protestant faiths in Europe (and their U.S. counterparts) have viewed Genesis as metaphorical and—like the Catholic Church—have not seen a major contradiction between their faith and the work of Darwin and other scientists.

Back when The Village Square was just a gleam in a few of our eyes, the concept of “A Team of Rivals”, as described in Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book of the same title, was highly recommended to us as intellectual fodder by journalist, friend, thinker and all-around-smart-guy Neil Skene.

Perhaps our Village Square version could be best described as a “Team of Neighbors”?

We’re glad to see that President-Elect Barack Obama is finally falling in line behind our “Big Idea.” (Yes, it should be duly noted that we had this idea well before Barack Obama, although - to be honest - a few years after Lincoln.)

To be sure, Lincoln’s team contained a component of the adage “keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” But political calculation aside, a connection between divergent camps of prominent thought yields an expansion of creative thinking (even if difficulty comes in holding its hand), serving to improve the success of any solution chosen.

Better discover the weaknesses of your “side” with an “opponent” before finding out in blood and money.

There’s a complication with that argument because you can and should separate church from state, you cannot separate religion from politics, anymore than you can separate economics from politics or partisanship from politics. Because religion is what a lot of people believe, how they see the world… What James Madison and Jefferson and others so brilliantly did is they built a country in which we could manage and marshal these forces and put them in proper proportion. Where I think, bluntly, the secular left goes wrong sometimes – they – you [looking at Maher]– is you take on extremists with an extreme position.

Maher went on to say that all people who believe in irrational things are cuckoo, possibly thus making Meacham’s point?

Yes we can.”

–The G-rated portion of Bill Maher’s tribute to America

I DO NOT want my doctor to make the diagnosis before I walk in the door, then hunt for a symptom that might support his pre-diagnosis.

So why is it that so many of us listen to biased commentary on right wing talk-radio or on the new liberal media offerings?

Their job? To find whatever fact or half-quote supports what they already thought, what they’ve always thought, and what they’ll think forever no matter what REALITY is.

Clearly because we’ve made our decision too - as they have - and we’re just looking for someone to agree with us.

Good for entertainment. Bad for democracy.

Cocaine. When we need cod liver oil.

“… Guinness charts a course for “a civil public square” in which citizens of any religion or of none are allowed and encouraged to let their voices be known and to respect those of others. He argues against both “the sacred social square” (where pluralism is defrocked and one religion dominates at the expense of others) and “the naked public square” (in which religious citizens are not allowed to participate socially and politically on the basis of their deepest convictions).”

Perhaps he’s onto something…