Nothing is quite so refreshing in times of censorship as a good satire. Fortunately, the ID Arts blog recently highlighted “Confession,” a brief story by James Hoskins published in Number One Magazine, the literary journal at University of Missouri, where Hoskins is a student.

The story takes the familiar theme of a young student who finds his faith challenged by the evidence, only this time, there’s a twist:

After a very uncomfortable silence of what seemed like an hour, Adam began, “Well, I guess I should start by saying I’ve been having a lot of questions.”
“About what?”
“Everything!” Adam’s eyebrows raised.
The Father, twiddling his glasses in his hand, said calmly, “Why don’t you tell me
some specifics and I’ll do my best to answer your questions.”
“Okay,” Adam said reluctantly. “How do we know that life is a product of
Chance?”
“Excuse me?” The Father had a disturbed look on his face.

Apparently, Hoskins wrote the story (which you can read here) in response to a controversial campus presentation on intelligent design:

In the spring of 2006, I attended a seminar at school called “Was Darwin Right?” hosted by the local Muslim Students Association. At the seminar they showed a video promoting the theory of Intelligent Design, with which I was already well acquainted. Following the video was a Q & A session that turned out to be a three-frontal attack on the young Muslim host by Darwinists in the audience. Coming to the defense of the speaker I quickly found myself in the middle of a debate with a biology professor and two biology students. They ended the debate by insisting there is an unknown law of nature that causes matter to organize itself into complex working machines. Realizing this as a last ditch effort on their part, I let it rest and did not pursue the argument any further. However, I did vent my frustration from that experience in a short work of fiction called, “Confession.”

While Hoskins was advised to censor his story, he insisted on maintaining his artistic integrity and having it published as he intended it–regardless of the politically correct sensitivities on his campus.
Well-written and entertaining, the story hits its stride as it reveals the hypocrisy of Darwin-only critics who refuse to engage in debate (sound familiar?):

“They want to have both arguments presented in the classroom and leave it up to
the students to decide which is true! What could be more wicked! It opens our doctrine
up to heretical criticism and, worst of all, it endangers the authority of the Church and the
Priesthood to say what is science and what is not.”
“But, if we are so certain our view is true, then shouldn’t we welcome criticism?
Wouldn’t allowing students to see a fair contrast between the two views simply reinforce
their belief that the Church’s view is the true one?”
“It may seem so, but as I said earlier the lies of the enemy are always pleasant to
the ear. Such young, impressionable brains are easily mislead. (emphasis added)

This is a bright and entertaining work which manages sly references to the bacterial flagellum and John Lennon — a perfect antidote to certain humorless Darwinists. Enjoy.