God is about to invade the nation. I would like to suggest that God is very much in the healing business. To young Earth creationists, no amount of empirical evidence that the Earth is billions of years old is likely to refute their claim that the world is actually young but that God simply made it appear to be old. Some, known as “young Earth” creationists, believe the biblical account that the universe and the Earth were created just a few thousand years ago. Scientists hypothesized the existence of viruses for many years before microscopes became powerful enough to see them. Edison may have been a flawed man, but he probably had nothing to do with elephant murder, although a cursory glance at his background makes it easy to see why many people attribute this act of cruelty to him. Even with the launch of Earth-orbiting spacecraft, scientists could not directly see the Earth going around the Sun. But they inferred from a wealth of independent measurements that the Sun is at the center of the solar system. On the contrary, as discussed earlier, several independent lines of evidence indicate that the Earth is about 4.5 billion years old and that the universe is about 14 billion years old.

Nowhere are the fossils of mammals found in sediments that are more than about 220 million years old. Nowhere on Earth are fossils from dinosaurs, which went extinct 65 million years ago, found together with fossils from humans, who evolved in just the last few million years. Scientific conclusions are not limited to direct observation but often depend on inferences that are made by applying reason to observations. But this claim also is at odds with observations and evidence understood scientifically. Creationists sometimes cite what they claim to be an incomplete fossil record as evidence that living things were created in their modern forms. The claim that the fossil record is “full of gaps” that undermine evolution is simply false. Sediments containing the fossils of only unicellular organisms appear earlier in the fossil record than do sediments containing the remains of both unicellular and multicellular organisms. Another compelling feature of the fossil record is its consistency.

But this argument ignores the rich and extremely detailed record of evolutionary history that paleontologists and other biologists have constructed over the past two centuries and are continuing to construct. This contention that nobody has seen evolution occurring further ignores the overwhelming evidence that evolution has taken place and is continuing to occur. Recruiting firms screen and place sales representatives with companies, managing the entire process from start to finish. Interpretations of some religious texts place more value on men’s words and opinions than on those of women or other marginalized groups. And it is commonly accepted around that world that religion and spirituality are among the most important of cultural factors – giving structure and meaning to behaviors, value systems and experiences. Researchers also are using new techniques, such as computed axial tomography (CT), to learn even more about the internal structures and composition of delicate bones of fossils.

Scientists regularly do experiments using microbes and other model systems that directly test evolutionary hypotheses. Many major religions teach that followers should strive to model their lives after their Higher Power, which is partly accomplished by treating each other as the Higher Power treats them. That means not controlling your partner’s choices just as the Higher Power does not control anyone. An abusive partner might use a victim’s religious beliefs to guilt them into feeling like they deserve to have these decisions made for them, or that they are not being a good follower of their faith if they don’t agree to their partner’s decisions. The Shias believed that Omar deserved to die because he was a usurper; according to them, Muhammad’s friend and son-in-law Ali should have ruled after the prophet’s death. They have the requisite evidence to warrant such belief, yet they deny or suppress it; they are intentionally disbelieving. These ideas stretch across multiple religious traditions and denominations, and are often based on belief in and adherence to religious texts and ideals. Belief in these claims in the public sphere endured and, in some cases, even expanded during Obama’s presidency according to the Pew Research Center, with 17% of Americans (including one third of conservative Republicans) believing him to be a Muslim in a 2012 poll.