conservatives on religion

I came across a couple of very interesting quotes from stalwart conservative Republicans today. But it's not often I actually agree with them.

The first is from George Will. In his Newsweek column this week, Will says that the debate on evolution will never come to an end. That's a bit depressing, but Will summarizes the problem very nicely -- and comes out against teaching creationism or intelligent design in public schools. The quote: "The problem with intelligent-design theory is not that it is false but that it is not falsifiable: Not being susceptible to contradicting evidence, it is not a testable hypothesis. Hence it is not a scientific but a creedal tenet-a matter of faith, unsuited to a public school's science curriculum."

Well said.

The second quote was from one of the two Ten Commandment cases the Supreme Court recently ruled on. In concurring with the majority opinion that hanging the framed text of the Ten Commandments in a Kentucky courthouse was unconstitutional, Sandra Day O'Connor summarized the discomfort that many of us -- liberal, conservative, believer, atheist -- feel with the theocratic blusterings of James Dobson, Judge Roy Moore, and Bill Frist.

O'Connor wrote: "At a time when we see around the world the violent consequences of the assumption of religious authority by government, Americans may count themselves fortunate: Our regard for constitutional boundaries has protected us from similar travails, while allowing private religious exercise to flourish. ... Those who would renegotiate the boundaries between church and state must therefore answer a difficult question: Why would we trade a system that has served us so well for one that has served others so poorly."

I wish I could have said this as eloquently as Justice O'Connor.