The contending factions call on science to bolster their positions. Families are divided, husbands and wives agree not to discuss it, old friends are no longer speaking. Politicians check the latest polls to discover the dictates of their consciences. Amid all the shouting, it is hard for the adversaries to hear one another. Opinions are polarized.
Minds are closed.
We wrote this article to understand better what the contending views are and to see if we ourselves could find a position that would satisfy us both. We had to weigh the arguments of both sides for consistency and to pose test cases, some of which are purely hypothetical. In contemplative moments, nearly everyone recognizes that the issue is not wholly one-sided. Many partisans of differing views, we find, feel some disquiet, some unease when confronting what's behind the opposing arguments. This is what the two principal warring camps like to call themselves, and that's what we'll call them here.