There was no indignation, bristling or otherwise.

There are no "these people." This is why I asked you to consider the poll and its breakdowns. A third of college graduates. 22 percent of postgraduates. 24 percent of those who never attend church. 34 percent of Democrats and independents.

I'm attempting to reassure you, not attack you. It is a mistake to try and inflate personal religious beliefs into a major political issue. This is not a real threat.

Think about your own background, your parents and grandparents. Uncles and aunts. People from an old and rich tradition, including religion. What were their beliefs on this account? Bet a dollar you don't even know. Would it matter? Would it change what you admire and respect about them in the important areas of their lives, the real things they stood for and did?

I have no idea what specific creation beliefs my own elders had. It never really came up, and wasn't a big central point in their religion.

This is a false issue. A political weapon when the real issues are out of bounds. It should be seen in no other light.

Yes, I'm an engineer. An engineer, unlike a scientist, has to make things work in the real world, not just in scientific papers. I was in aerospace, where "what works" was very important. Things that didn't work could kill. And no amount of papers and math I could produce to show why it should have worked would make a difference.

If "what worked" was a criteria for political science, instead of beliefs that border on religions themselves, things might be a lot different.