Opponents each sit on the edge of chairs waiting to bludgeon their fellows and smugly remark upon the other’s ignorance. We could go back and forth endlessly. And what does either argument serve? Generally, only the proponents’ egoism.

After all, it is well known that one cannot believe in intelligent design and still be a leading scientific mind. Just don’t tell David Coppedge. Or any of these people. Or these.

At least we can rest assured that no one who succeeds in entertainment (especially Hollywood) is deeply religious. Thank goodness Stephen Colbert doesn’t realize this, or he might curl up upon his millions and cry himself to sleep.

Colbert is not a creationist. I’ve met him and he is a kind and conscientious man who takes his work very seriously. He finds strength in Roman Catholicism and recently appeared with Father James Martin for a discussion on faith.

So evolutionary ideology isn’t nearly as important to success as one may think. You can be a great scientist and accept the Gospel as written, or you can be a great comedian and take it with a grain of salt.

Creationists used to rule the educational sphere, and they excluded all challengers. Evolutionists did the same after they succeeded the creationists. The only difference is that evolutionists are supposed to be intellectuals, yet they continually prove the contrary. Existence itself is often a paradox, so why should speculating about it be any different?

Even if certain theories seem highly likely, they are nothing more than theories until all the facts are established, not most of the facts or enough to presume an outcome. Moreover, there is intellectual danger in assuming we can even recognize those facts.

Creationists may be engaging in fairy tales, but it’s difficult to believe their world isn’t a better place to live. Whether true or not, some things are worth taking on faith. Among these is that it’s better to presume all humans are of equal worth, even if it is not physiologically the case. Nature is harsh while the Almighty is forgiving.

Finally, and most importantly, none of it matters. Even if you were granted perfect knowledge of how life began, that information would not do much to improve the present. Human beings seem obsessed with solving the mysteries of universal being even as they have yet to master the incidentals of everyday life on one little planet.

We see our reflection on a lake’s surface and think we know what lurks in the fathoms. It’s breathtakingly presumptuous to think we can comprehend the origin of existence and is only surpassed by condemning the same conceit in others.

I esteem art above technique, having seen the results of both. I regard contemplation above affirmation. I value questions above answers. These distinctions may cause many to regard me as a fool.

Yet very often our days are made more palatable by being foolish. At the very least it is more permissive in its thinking. Readers will find that tolerating the viewpoints of others, even presidential candidates, leads to happiness far more than fretting over the progression of primordial ooze.

Image of the blue planet courtesy of Shutterstock