In the modern era, the discussion of how we humans have come to exist on earth has assumed a familiar form: creationism versus evolution. Creationists argue that at a particular time in history a divine entity, God, created human beings and all other creatures. Evolutionists argue that over the course of millions of years all life forms emerged and, even today, continue to evolve.

In the past several years we have seen the creationist argument applied by political conservatives to the birth of our nation. On blogs and on the editorial pages of newspapers there appear impassioned letters from Tea Party types and other individuals who put forward the following assertions:

1. The United States of America was founded, more or less single-handedly, by a group of white males whose names are familiar (Washington, Adams, Hancock, and others) and who are collectively referred to as ?the founding fathers.?

2. The founding fathers were practicing Christians.

3. The founding fathers intended that the United States be forever identified as a Christian nation.

The arguments of these ?Mayflower creationists? parallel those of Biblical creationists. They say that the world as we know it was conjured from nothing by an all-powerful deity (or in the case of the Mayflower creationists, deities) whose beliefs and commandments are set down in scripture and represent an enduring template from which deviation is dangerous and immoral.

If you accept this deeply flawed argument as an axiom, then to decide the important questions facing us today you need only examine and parse every word spoken by, and every sentence written by, the creator(s), whether biblical or constitutional. As a result we see creationists digging through the recorded statements and writings of the founding fathers, seeking proof that these men were Christian and that they intended the United States to be a Christian nation.

To recall that the founding fathers owned slaves and that they lived in era of brutal inequality will make no difference to the Mayflower creationists, and so I?ll forgo that exercise. The deeper point is that while it is good to remember and respect the wisdom of earlier ages, it is foolish to seek advice from men who have been dead for hundreds of years. We cannot ask them directly; we can only sift through historical records and try to interpret what they might say to us today. But when confronted with difficult choices, it makes no sense to point to some long-dead deity and say, ?This is how the deity said it had to be done hundreds of years ago, and therefore I am not required to think for myself.?

The founding fathers deserve our admiration and respect. They dared to think for themselves. But in the centuries since they lived, the world has changed. And if you believe in evolution, you know that any species that remains the same is doomed to perish. We live in a world where only the fittest survive. To refuse to adapt is dangerous, and to claim that the ghosts of the past speak to us is folly.