Recently I shared my reading of David Brooks’ recent colum “The Age of Darwin.” The whole thing read like parody to me. I thought for sure that Brooks could not seriously write that, while we are generally post-modern people who are skeptical of metanarratives, we have and should abandon this view because Darwinism is the true metanarrative of life. I thought he was just pointing out the contradiction in academia between postmodern and Darwinian thought.

With thanks to one ENV reader named Oleg, I stand corrected. I had forgotten that Mr. Brooks shared his views on Darwinism in The New Republic in 2005:

David Brooks, The New York Times (via email)
Whether he personally believes in evolution: “I believe in the theory of evolution.”
What he thinks of intelligent design: “I’ve never really studied the issue or learned much about ID, so I’m afraid I couldn’t add anything intelligent to the discussion.”

All apologies to Ambassador Chapman, whom I never should have doubted.

I have always been fond of Mr. Brooks, as his columns were the highlight of my free college subscription to The New York Times. He has always had a gracious voice that is too rare in public discourse. I hope that one day he will read the arguments for intelligent design.