The existence of beauty suggests that a God exists and that He is good. It is not a sufficient proof for the existence of God by itself, but a confirmation of His existence to those with other reasons and personal experiences that suggest His reality.

From Plato to C.S. Lewis, creation as a whole has been viewed as marvelously elegant.

The harmonious plan of the cosmos allows for variation and freedom for created beings. There is a fundamental pattern and order to creation, but also room for the unexpected within the design plan. Too much regularity would seem stagnant, so thankfully the created order also shows variability and the marvelously engineered capacity to adapt and change.

So delightful is the universe that elegant mathematical and scientific theories work better in explaining it than inelegant ones. It is no accident that scientists discover that more elegant theories are more useful in the “real world” than less beautiful ones.

The Old Testament acknowledges the existence of economic, not racial, slavery in the ancient world and attempts to regulate it. The New Testament undermines the economic viability of slavery by calling for slaves to be treated as “brothers,” but does not call for immediate abolition.

Why not?

The Bible attacks slavery and many other social injustices indirectly. The main focus of the Bible is not human culture, but the relationship between God and humankind. The Bible prioritizes healing the dying soul over dealing with corrupt cultures.

God also recognizes that revolutionary change in human institutions often produces more harm than good.

The fallen world is full of great social evils and humans are busy thinking up new ones every day. Scripture does provide general principles that can be applied to specific cases with the potential to bring about large cultural change, but slowly and over time.

Wednesday the sun came up and I was happy. It is still morning in America. The candidate I voted for did not win, but I got to vote in a free and fair election. Power will be passed peacefully and the Constitution is intact.

We should never take that for granted.

The United States of America is still a marvelous place to live. People suffering in the Sudan would trade our worst day, economically speaking, for their best. Citizens in more prosperous China do not have the chance to throw the rascals out.

The sun is not setting on the American experiment. It is still rising, because there is still work to be done expanding the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to all citizens.

It is glorious that an African-American has been elected President of the United States. Slavery was the original sin of the Republic and racism remains the bitter experience of too many Americans. The election of Barack Obama will not end racism in the United States, but it is a positive, symbolic step forward.

The election is not yet. Much can still happen in this crazy year, and I am not in despair but (as a commentator) four things about the nation and election look true to me right now:

First, let me state the obvious: Senator Obama is winning.

As I have often repeated: this is a Democratic year. John McCain was always running up hill with a fifty pound pack on his back. He might make it, but the stock market crash and credit crash added another one hundred pounds each. Senator Obama ran an uneven campaign, was a tough sell to the American public (compared to other Democratic choices), but he is well on his way to the White House.

Second, the world will not come to an end if Senator Obama wins. My family will go on being my family, my students will continue to be wonderful, and this grand Republic will still be a great place to live. Some of my correspondents are in a panic about President Obama, but they should not be. Some men grow in office. Some presidents, see Lincoln, surprise voters by revealing hidden depths. As John McCain pointed out recently, Senator Obama is a good man, a patriot, and very smart.