Coda
If you have followed this madman thus far into the shadows, you may wish to stop and look back at how far we have come. The territory may become more familiar and less threatening. The battle over Darwinism is muddled by the need for certain knowledge. Both sides have reason to object to the other, but are blind to the criticisms directed to their own. The Darwinists are justified in objecting to creationism or intelligent design being taught as science, but the religious critics of Darwinism are equally justified in feeling threatened by Darwinism.
Darwinism is presented as atheism and Darwinist atheism is presented as science. Darwinism is flawed, but the existence of those flaws does not really support either intelligent design or creationism. In other words, there are good reasons to question the assertion that natural selection is the only force directing evolution, but no one really knows what other force there might be. We find such ignorance intolerable.
We must have certain knowledge; either God or the laws of physics must be the answer. The Darwinists do not really answer their critics; they merely say that they are sure that answers will be found. They know that they will eventually be found because Darwinism is the only way they can imagine for biology to be subsumed into known physical law. Darwinism therefore must be true.
If we examine that premise carefully we find that if known physical law really were responsible for everything in the universe, not only would God be banished but so would consciousness and purpose. Consciousness obviously exists and purpose almost certainly does as well. The only thing that stands in the way of accepting these conclusions is that it means abandoning a precious puzzle boxtop: that satisfying picture of the present laws of physics as the ultimate explanation for everything.
A madman can see that purpose is an inherent aspect of the world and that a new science, a new physics, will someday be built upon that vision, but it will take more than an lunatic to do it. A brilliant young person, one smart enough to absorb what the old vision has learned but too young to be yet seduced by its certainties will eventually paint the cover of a new boxtop and provide the theoretical basis for integrating the solid remains of the old vision with the intoxicating and terrifying promise of the new.
The universe and all within it are constantly evolving. Stardust evolves into the elements of the periodic table; chemistry evolves into biology; life evolves into its present diversity; clans evolve into civilizations; simple tools evolve into complex technologies. Each turn in evolution starts as a step into darkness; each step requires great force to overcome inertia. There is evolution in ideas too, and certain truth is its enemy.