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Christians, who confess that their God is the “Maker of heaven and earth” and the “Creator of all things visible and invisible,” support what looks for all the world like intelligent design. Christians have always brushed aside the notion that the world is a random concatenation of miscellaneous atoms thrown together by no one in particular and serving no purpose other than their own survival. The first article of the Christian creed could not be clearer: the world exists by the will of God. What less conservative Christians are not committed to is the idea that intelligent design excludes the possibility of evolution.

Christmas recommendations for Off the Map, Crash, Look at Me and more new DVDs—from film reviewers John Petrakis and Steve Vineberg. For recommendations in fiction, nonfiction, memoirs, theology and more, see the December 27 issue of the Century.

Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip is the latest in a series of events that make a settlement between Israelis and Palestinians more possible than it's been for a long time. Most Israelis and Palestinians appear willing to make the necessary concessions. Yet there are barriers to peace that will never be overcome unless the U.S. takes a more active role and invests large amounts of money to assist both sides. How can the U.S. support a peace process based on the outline of the Geneva Accord?

What are the limits of religious freedom? The Supreme Court has taken up a case involving O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao Do Vegetal, a small sect that blends Christianity with South American spiritism. As a central act of their faith, UDV members ingest a tea called hoasca, brewed by mixing two plants unique to the Amazon basin. The practice has landed the UDV in trouble with the U.S. government because hoasca contains one hundredth of 1 percent of dimethyltriptamine (DMT), an illegal hallucinogen.