It's official.  After 4 billion years (or 5,000 depending upon your point of view), science has lost the battle versus religion.  At least in pockets here of the U.S.  Here are two signs that this apocalypse (yes, bad pun intended) is upon us:

The Creation Museum opened in Petersburg, Kentucky.  Watch 5,000 year old dinosaurs frolic next to children in ponds.  Is this for real?  Sadly yes; here's the New York Times' review.

In another piece of news, less than half of Republicans believe in evolution.  According to a recent Gallup Poll (May 21-24, 2007), 68% of Republicans do not believe in evolution - versus the 57% of Democrats who do believe in evolution.

But don't worry, all's not lost.  There's an interesting trend buried in the Gallup data.  It turns out that since 1982 they've been asking people about who created mankind.  They've given people three choices: God, evolution only, evolution with God's guidance.

What's interesting is that over time the portion of people believing in evolution only has risen, but only from 9 to 14%.  The strongest camp is still the God-only folks, clocking in at 43-47% depending upon the year.

Looks like this debate is going to get a whole lot more polarized before it gets resolved.