Lexington [Red River Gorge, Natural Bridge State Park]

This morning I drove out to the Red River Gorge Geologic Area . From the direction I came, the only access to the area is through the 900 foot long Nada Tunnel . It is not lit and is only one lane wide. I could see a car at the other end, fortunately with their headlights on. I can only imagine how many head-on collisions have occurred in that tunnel. Upon exiting I immediately consulted the map for another way out of the area.

Partway through the road that circumnavigates the area, I stopped at the Gladie Visitor Center. Steven helped orient me and suggested some possible destinations for photos. The heat dome has lifted and the day was pleasantly mild with a light cloud cover. although the bugs remain. The area was almost empty of visitors, as was Clifty Falls the other day. I think many schools have already started the year and family vacation time is over. That will be a pleasant change. Although Labor Day is still a few days away, it looks like the transition to Fall has begun.

Interestingly, even at this low latitude, the leaves are already beginning to turn. In spite of its name, this park is geologically unimpressive. Perhaps I am just spoiled from the majesty of the Southwest, but I found the rock formations underwhelming. The forest itself is dense and beautiful; once more leaves turn, I think it will be a very pretty landscape.

At Chimney Top Rock, I met Jim and Annette. They are also traveling around the country, but they are fully retired and have allocated two years to the trip. After a few minutes of chatting, I learned that, although their current home base is New Mexico, they are originally from Ohio and Indiana. A few more minutes produced the information that they are observant Christians practicing Fundamentalist Baptism. They mentioned using the King James Bible. An internet search produced the information that the New Independent Fundamental Baptist Movement is an association of conservative, King James only, independent Baptist churches. The Wiki article describes them as racist, anti-semitic and anti-LGBTQ. While our conversation did not include issues of race or LGBTQ, I did not get the impression that Jim and Annette were anti-Semitic. During our conversation, I did mention my Jewish heritage and their reaction was to embrace Judaism as a fundamental religion and the Jews as the “chosen people” (of course the joke is always chosen for what). If indeed they are part of the IFB, I have to imagine there is individual variation and variation between churches as to how it is interpreted and practiced.

As the conversation continued, it became clear that Jim and Annette believe that the stories in the Bible are an accurate and literal account of events during that time. Two of the issues I asked them about were evolution and the Middle East. Regarding evolution, they believe in the creation story. But Annette allowed that it was possible to hold beliefs in creation and evolution simultaneously. As an aside, an interesting reference for that idea is the writings of Dr. Francis Collins , known for leading the Human Genome Project, and subsequently as the director of the NIH. In his 2006 book The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief, Collins wrote that scientific discoveries were an "opportunity to worship" and that he rejected both Young Earth creationism and intelligent design. His own belief, he wrote, was theistic evolution or evolutionary creation, which he preferred to call BioLogos.

I mentioned my conversation some months ago with Rida, the Palestinian gentlemen I met in Memphis, in which he opined that only the arrival of the Messiah would bring peace to the Middle East. They more or less agreed with this idea. I pushed them to consider what people on this earth might do now, in real time, to resolve the situation. They did allow that humbleness and forgiveness would go a long way toward paving the way for civil discussions in many different situations.

After continuing to the rest of the destinations in Red River Gorge, I decided to stop at Natural Bridge State Park, which is close by, before heading back. This park is known for one major rock formation and mile hike up is required to reach it. What I did not realize until I arrived is that that hike brings you to the arch itself rather than to a point with a view of the arch. I was too close to the formation to capture any decent images and had to resort to an extreme iPhone shot. It is possible to climb some narrow stairs to go up on top of the arch; I decided that was not necessary. Any view would be in harsh afternoon sun and not worth climbing out on a high narrow surface with no railings.

Upon arrival back at my hotel, I encountered Camden, the very nice gentleman who had checked me in a couple of days ago. He asked how my stay was going so far, and I described my activities of the last couple of days, including my conversations with both Sim, and Jim and Annette. He reminded me that I was deep in the Bible Belt and allowed that he himself had also been raised in the Baptist faith, but that he was still searching for answers. He shared that, although he had been taught evolution in school, he was now questioning the veracity of that science and wondering if creation was not a better explanation. Part of his concern is that he did not want to accept that “we came from monkeys.” I explained the fallacy of that statement, clarifying that various branches of primates diverged from the evolutionary tree at different times rather than a linear progression. I could see he was thinking about that. Again, we did agree that basic human decency, kindness and respect would go a long way towards fostering civil conversations between people with different views. And he did agree with me that those characteristics did not require adherence to any organized region or faith.

What I appreciated about my conversation with Camden is that he seemed willing to take in new information and at least consider the possibility of changing his beliefs based up an updated understanding. What has frustrated me about conversations with some other people on this trip is that the conversation is two monologues rather than a dialogue. No information, however well-supported, could possibly change their belief system. That is a recipe for stagnation and impedes any search for compromise and common solutions to pressing problems. In addition, faith is just that - it does no have and cannot have any empirical basis. Thus it is impossible to have any rational discussion than might change someone’s mind about their beliefs. Faith-based answers also absolve human beings on this earth from the responsibly of accepting the consequences of their actions - or lack thereof - either individually or as part of their tribe; deferring to an omniscient being seems too easy a solution to avoid having to confront difficult issues in the here and now.

Today was definitely another step in my understanding of how and why people with a different world view than me act and react in certain ways. Tomorrow I plan to visit the Kentucky history museum, finally open on a Tuesday and drive around the area some more.