The Story We Tell Ourselves

Americans have a set of stories that we tell also, stories of how we began as a nation, how we became who we are, stories of freedom and independence and triumphing over insurmountable odds. Those stories shape the basis for the way that we view reality. Others tell stories about us as well, stories that aren't so kind (but that deserve our hearing), stories about imperialism and oppression and might-makes-right. The worlds created by these two different sets of stories might, for example, determine whether one thinks of 9/11 as the work of "terrorists" or "martyrs". This is a fairly large oversimplification, but hopefully it gives some idea of what I mean when I talk about story forming the grid through which we view reality.

Back to intelligent design. This debate, really, has nothing at all to do with whether evolution happened. This is far more about the stories that we tell, stories of origins and beginnings and purpose and destiny. Both sides are fighting over the validity of their particular stories - and the validity of the stories that others tell. Neither side is really interested in a discussion of "what really happened". Unfortunately, both sides believe that's what this is about - as though we simply work with uninterpreted facts that don't adhere to a story for context and meaning.

I think what troubles me about this whole topic more than anything is that I have a nagging suspicion that there's another story that's being missed here. Is the story that we tell really all about how old this rock is that we call home, about whether our distant ancestors walked upright and dressed in this season's hottest fig leaves? Or is it more about why things are broken, why we search for transcendence, why we fail to live at peace, why we have inexplicable hope through suffering?

[via theopraxis, emphasis mine]