There was a live-streamed debate at church today, involving two prominent scientists, one a "heretic" who accepts evolution, and one a "fool" who doesn't - they're the authors of The Fool and the Heretic , a book I really must read! These two men described how, on first meeting, they were each quite sure they'd correctly defined the other. But then they talked, prayed, ate dinner and talked some more. Gradually they realized that, while each believed the other's position to pose a threat to Christianity, they could still respect each other's intelligence AND each other's faith, and they could be friends. In novels, characters often hold differing opinions. Sometimes those opinions agree with the author's; sometimes they don't. The author's job, at the start, is to keep their own opinions separate from the characters' - just because you believe all creationists are fools, you don't have to make them all look foolish in ...