Me too. Have for almost 5 years. You are a good recent addition...too many of the other recent additions are not.
This issue divides families, friends, so no suprise that it will divide Republicans...I don't know what will happen with FR, but when I read the passion some of these folks have for a 'theory', it would not suprise me if they protect that belief with whatever it takes...so switching party affiliation would be a minor detail.
Maybe they already have and don't realize it...anyway, you heard it here first.
Thanks and good night...it's been fun.
That is ridiculous. We have a passion for the truth and for reason. The divide goes deeper than just evolution: It's a question of where morality comes from. Creationist conservatives think there is no moral code that people can converge upon by examining the real world. Ironically, in this they agree with postmodernist deconstructionists! But where po-mos are happy to live in their world of competing, totally subjective "texts", creationists want there to be a deus-ex-machina god to come down to Earth and impose his morality upon us. A Deus-ex-machinocracy, if you will.
Evolutionist conservatives, OTOH, think morality is a concept that flows naturally from the facts of human nature, and as such there is indeed a single, objective morality which is best for all people to follow. The problem is, it's not self-evident, but must be learned through hard experience, and analyzed through our capacity for reason.
Both creationist & evolutionist conservatives believe humans need a single set of consistent moral codes to live by for civilization to flourish - so there should be some common ground for us as conservatives - and indeed there is, when we come together on other day-to-day subjects, such as supporting the war in Iraq, etc.
This issue evokes such passion with me because now that Communism has collapsed, creationists want to distract the conservative movement into a totally useless side-issue which is an embarrassment to the movement, and if successful would do great harm to America's science profession. Not to mention giving the liberals & leftists (remember them?) a great gaping hole through which to charge and stage a major comeback.
As long as you creationists keep trying to wedge the religious doctrine of creationism into public schools' science classes, this divisive issue will not go away. That is not our fault.