The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie -- deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.

I have written previously about the fact that most Christians can find their faith compatible with Darwin's theories. I have also urged scientists not to fear discussions of Creationism or Intelligent Design, so long as they are not taught as science.

Today's events evolved (ba-dump-bump) from The Clergy Letter Project, begun by Michael Zimmerman, dean of the College of Letters and Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

Since its inception in 2004, the project has drawn 10,000 Christian clerics to sign a letter that concludes, "We urge school board members to preserve the integrity of the science curriculum by affirming the teaching of the theory of evolution as a core component of human knowledge. We ask that science remain science and that religion remain religion, two very different, but complementary, forms of truth."

Says Zimmerman:

The first part was to demonstrate to the American public that the shrill fundamentalist voices that were demanding that people had to choose between religion and science were simply wrong. The second part was to demonstrate that those fundamentalist leaders that keep standing up and shouting that you can't accept modern science were not speaking for the majority of Christian leaders in this country.

If the silent majority would speak up and express itself in the face of zealots and extremists, I strongly believe that most issues of religion conflicting with secular values would dry up. Bravo to Dr. Zimmerman, and all of the clerics who participated in the letter or in today's programs.

Oh, and Happy Birthday, Charles Darwin.