Bush: Bible not literally true

In a stunning change of pace, George W. Bush said something reasonably intelligent. Two things, actually:

• The Bible is "probably not" literally true.
• Evolution is compatible with belief in God.

Granted, he's still sticking to his pro creationism cdesign proponentist intelligent design stance, but I suppose even this meager admission is a tremendous leap forward for a presidency drenched in dino-riding Christian fundamentalism.

You're getting me way out of my lane here. I'm just a simple president.

Right. Good call, not wanting to speak about things you feel you may not have enough knowledge or expertise to be comfortable addressing. Best to leave this sort of stuff to the experts.

One question: where was this humility when you said that schools should teach ID?

I think that God created the Earth, created the world; I think the creation of the world is so mysterious it requires something as large as an almighty

Yay, God of the Gaps.

I'm curious, what specific part of the history of the Earth is so mysterious that it needs a deity? Was it when the Earth first formed? The very first replicator? The first eukaryotic cell? The first chordate? The first primate? Answer the question and you will find scientific data detailing its formation due to purely naturalistic processes. Suddenly, it's a little less mysterious and the God of the Gaps evaporates.

I wonder how the religious right, particularly the creationists/IDiots, are going to take this. Even Bush, a president not widely known for his intellectual prowess, dismisses biblical literalism. That has got to hurt.