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His belief in creationism would have gotten me hot and bothered in the 2000s. In the time since, I have watched his 'betters' - people with no attachment to millenia-old superstitions and fueled only by the love of science and compassion for others - quite possibly exceed him in the strangeness of their beliefs and the ruination in their consequences.
I'm an unrepetant atheist who has nonetheless softened towards religion, if only because the notion I once held that "less religion = more good ideas can flourish" has been badly beaten (pending status on survival) and because I have been shown being non-religious isn't an antidote to stupid thinking. And no Young Earth Creationist of status is going to give me any lip about my white privilege or grease the wheels for a child's gender transition.*
I reckon it's a two-way street, but I feel like there's this endemic failure for some people to model the minds of people who are totally unphased by this, especially those of the 'smarty pants' variety typically seen here. 'Man walked with dinosaurs' is ridiculous to me, and it has practically nothing to do with any given culture war item today. And even if I may personally scoff at his beliefs, I'm betting he may be a more reliable ally against things I also oppose, even if our reasoning may diverge at times.
*Some indicators the speaker may not be 100% reliable on that front. But as to the question why his creationism isn't a deal-breaker or remotely a topic of my concern, the above still stands.
More or less nails my feelings. I would give anything to go back to refighting battles over abortion and gay marriage. Current battles about the state secretly transitioning my child in public school, and then confiscating them for sterilization and mutilation are horrifying beyond all belief. It's the sort of existential evil you used to see from unabashedly malicious faction is sci-fi novels.
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