I don't see any effort to suppress it, just the inability to overlook its political ramifications - which resurfaced almost out of nowhere during the 1980 Presidential run.

Well do I remember an astonishing headline in a New York newspaper, possibly on the first day of the campaign: "Reagan Takes Swing at Apeman Theory."

Think of it: the candidate of one of the country's two major parties opening his campaign by rejecting the theory of evolution. That candidate was elected by a landslide. During his time in office, he wondered aloud if events in Lebanon might not be setting the superpowers up for Armageddon - with the implication that they would be powerless to avoid it. (Which is not to suggest he wouldn't have tried.)

Pete is not a threat. His clergyman is not a threat. Their confusions about biology are not at threat. Taken to an extreme, however, ignorance - especially willed ignorance (as much the product of free will, it might be argued, as anything else) - is a real threat, and it always will be.