And if ID and Evolution are the same process?

There are new lines being drawn in sand regarding Intelligent Design and Evolution. The emotion of the debaters runs high, and sometimes appears to block their ability to think. So let us try to just think.

First, what are the questions? There are many but I’ll keep it to six:

There are thousands and thousands of simultaneous physical interactions required for a human body to get through a day. Did these evolve over a long, long period of time?
If the answer to Question 1 is ‘Yes’, are there fossilized remains that show the steady progress from the earliest stages of physical development to the current state? (if the answer is ‘no’, well, argument over)
Where are the artifacts kept of the poor ancestors whose body only performed a few hundred interactions? Where are the ones with only one eye? May I see the skeletal remains of the pre-humans who only had two toes on each foot? Do we have a fossil trail of the females who had a significantly less sophisticated and efficient reproductive capability?

Any set of answers can be used to support either side because they are both based on faith.

There certainly is evidence of evolutionary changes among humans over the relatively few years we have documented. There are also gaps in the evolutionary trail that get steadily larger as we go back further in time. The enormous missing piece is the beginning. The first mother as currently posited would look very different than your own, but we would probably recognize her as human. Where are her ancestors?

The Creationists generally believe that the Creator put our ancestors here essentially as they are today, and most accept the evidence that we have continued to develop and improve our physical and mental efficiencies.

So we have two general camps who ask (and in some cases demand) that their theories be taught in schools. Both are based on faith.

The Evolutionary camp points to the available evidence supporting their argument and demands that the students have faith in the scientists who will eventually discover more of the evidence missing today.

The ID camp points to that fact that their theory answers all the questions, but demands that the students accept as an article of faith that there is a Creator who begat all of this.

Just thinking about it, it appears that the students must either have faith in scientists who have only provided a small percentage of the evidence, or have faith in a Creator whose proclaimed works reveal an enormous body of evidence, but provides no physical evidence of her/his corporeal existence.

Just thinking about it, might the Creator still be in the process of creating, and could evolution be a tool that enhances the miracle of Creation?

Just thinking about it, might it be slightly arrogant to proclaim that you and those who believe as you do are right, and everyone else is wrong?

Just thinking about it, would it be okay to teach the students that these are questions essential to human existence and they should learn as much about both theories as possible, so they might take their wonder and apply it to answering the great questions?

Just thinking about it, could it be possible that all paths might lead to the Creator when they are followed by a good man or woman, and while the general precepts of “good” are carved in many stones, the precise definition is only known at the end of the path?

Pay attention while on the path, and hold great hope for eternity.