I have my problems with Richard Dawkins’ atheism. However, his response in The Washington Post to Governor Rick Perry’s anti-intellectualism and promotion of creationism at the expense of evolution and established science is excellent and points up well the serious threat to enlightened thinking that Perry, Michelle Bachman, Sarah Palin, the current Republican Party, and the Tea Party represent in this country.
http://richarddawkins.net/articles/642754-attention-governor-perry-evolution-is-a-fact
Rabbi John Rosove's Blog 
Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection” has been considered by many the most important book published in the last several hundred years. If you have never read it, I encourage you to. What Darwin was able to conclude from elementary observations without the benefit of molecular genetics or even knowledge of DNA is simply astounding. Investigation since the 1859 publication of the book has transformed theory to fact and has filled in innumerable gaps in knowledge. I only wish I could encourage creationists to read the book. They may believe that the only rapture one can, or should, experience with regard to creation must be biblical, but if they were to read Darwin’s own words, they would realize that life–just as it is on its own terms–is awe inspiring, and that Darwin himself spoke of the origins and miracle of life and the ever-shifting choreography of nature according to natural selection in rapturous terms.