Confession — A Short Story by James Hoskins
Its the same old story–kid goes off to college where everything he was raised to believe is challenged, but Confession, a short story by philosophy student James Hoskins, turns out to be a confession of a different sort. We asked James to give us a little background on himself and the origin of the story:“After graduating high school in 1997, I started a rock band called Elevator Division. Shortly thereafter, I embarked on a deep journey of philosophical questions concerning my childhood Christian faith. This prompted an ongoing independent study, researching the evidence for and against the existence of God, that lasted the remainder of my time with the band. One record deal, two U.S. tours, and seven years later I decided to quit the band and go to school to become a philosophy professor. So I enrolled at the University of Missouri-Kansas City to study Philosophy, where I am currently.
In the spring of 2006, I attended a seminar at school called “Was Darwin Right?” hosted by the local Muslim Students Association. At the seminar they showed a video promoting the theory of Intelligent Design, with which I was already well acquainted. Following the video was a Q & A session that turned out to be a three-frontal attack on the young Muslim host by Darwinists in the audience. Coming to the defense of the speaker I quickly found myself in the middle of a debate with a biology professor and two biology students. They ended the debate by insisting there is an unknown law of nature that causes matter to organize itself into complex working machines. Realizing this as a last ditch effort on their part, I let it rest and did not pursue the argument any further. However, I did vent my frustration from that experience in a short work of fiction called, “Confession.”
Upon the advice of my English professor, I submitted “Confession” to Number One Magazine, the University’s student literary magazine. They accepted and agreed to publish it. However, they asked me to censor parts of it because they believed it could be offensive. I refused. The magazine’s policy of printing whatever the author wishes worked in my favor and Number One published the story uncensored.
While I still play music with a buddy of mine, in a project we call Chouteau, my main passion now is school and writing – particularly in dealing with philosophy of science issues. Hopefully, other stories and essays that are in the works will get equally effective responses as did “Confession.”
Currently I live in my hometown of Kansas City, Missouri with my wife Lisa. I work and go to school full-time. I plan to graduate next December and will seek admittance to a graduate program in Philosophy.”