I thought it might be helpful to write a little about the evolution vs/ creation debate for non-American readers of "A new kind of christian" and "The story we find ourselves in". Both books spend quite a lot of time exploring why evolution is consistent with God's story, but for the Aussie readers it seems rather overdone.
When I was training as a biologist in Australia, it was a complete non-issue. Undergraduate classes taught evolution (very briefly), and it was essentially absent from my graduate studies. The issue was never discussed in the lab, and it seemed that most people were comfortable with evolution, at least as a basic framework in which to understand the inter-relatedness of different species.
However, the picture is completely different here in the US. For the scientists, the big issue is about whether creationism is taught in science classes as an alternative to evolution. This is considered such an affront to the scientific method that the monthly newsletter of the
American Society for Cell Biology runs a regular creationism watch column. It is often a topic of discussion in the lab. If I were to apply for a permanent job here, I would almost certainly be asked if I would teach creationism as an alternative to evolution, and asked how I would deal with students pushing that creationism be debated in class.
Basically, it is a very big issue here. Hope that helps clarify why it is emphasised so much by Brian McLaren.
