The big problem now, though, isn’t that those “bad” people out there—the academics, the scientists, the big media people, and the people who run national parks and museums—leave God out of the discussion. The big problem more and more is that those of us who profess to be believers have to such a large extent joined them in their silence. So theoretically, we are still creationists. But practically speaking, we don’t let our allegiance to that great truth affect us much in everyday life. We’ve become scared to talk out loud, at least in public company.

I guess that as long as there are massive mudslides in Washington, earthquakes in Chile, and droughts in the Central Valley of California, we’re all consigned to keep paying attention to yet another mini-disaster: The incessant chatter of newscasters who used to blame all this on Mother Nature, and now are bold instead to hold climate change responsible. For serious Christians, though, such references should remind us of the unusual opportunities such events give us for saying straightforwardly that the doctrine of creation matters.

The problem is, as I’ve argued here before, that so few Christians really believe that anymore. They can’t any longer say the word “creation” with conviction or gumption. For a generation or more now, evangelicals have increasingly swallowed the line that what we believe about origins isn’t all that different from what everyone else believes—except that we’re careful faithfully but lamely to add that God controls the process. Leading evangelical colleges quietly but efficiently persuade thousands of students that theistic evolution is a more sophisticated and less embarrassing explanation of origins than what we learned as beginners in Sunday school. Those who hold to any form of fiat creation are regularly made to feel as if they should also be speaking Elizabethan English.

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