Majority of Americans Reject Secular Evolution (Gallup Poll, Sep. 2005)

BP News (Baptist Press) ^ | October 19, 2005 | Michael Foust

[Coyoteman]

there is a lot more going on than simple ignorance

Yes, it is faith. Some people simply cannot conceive of anything that contradicts their faith, so for them it does not exist.

[jennyp]

Evolutionary theory, rooted in the universal human dissatisfaction for mortality is a vain search for human origin(s), an attempt to rationalize a yearning for connection to something eternal.

LOL, that is the most severe case of projection I've seen in days!

<sigh> Look. You and me, and probably every one of us, wishes we could have an infinitely long life. We all deeply mourn the loss of our loved ones who went before us, and mourn before-the-fact our own eventual deaths. But some of us aren't able or willing to abandon the plain facts before us just so we can believe a comforting myth that makes all our fears go away.

You can try to wish away death, and maybe you'll be successful at it. But why not simply focus on embracing life instead?

BTW, evolution per se has nothing to do with my atheism. Evolution would make perfect sense as the kind of feature of a universe that had the capacity to surprise & delight an omniscient (& therefore bored) God.

[Youngblood]

So the same old tired and oft-refuted creationist nonsense then? I'll pass, thanks.

[Coyoteman]

In your post #131 to me earlier today on this thread, you referred me to a website with a link purported to contradict the radiocarbon dating method.

With some research, I found that the article you referenced, and several others on the same site, do not contradict the radiocarbon dating method at all.

This site, BiblicalChronologist.org has a series of good articles on radiocarbon dating. I am providing links to each of the primary articles below:

Are tree-ring chronologies reliable? (The Biblical Chronologist, Vol. 5, No. 1)

How does the radiocarbon dating method work? (The Biblical Chronologist, Vol. 5, No. 1)

How precise is radiocarbon dating?

Is radiocarbon dating based on assumptions?

Has radiocarbon dating been invalidated by unreasonable results?

Hope this helps.

[Oztrich Boy]

So a scientist reporting superconductivity in Cobalt dioxide proves Genesis Christianity how?

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

What's not missing is huge mountains of evidence that have already been found, which the creationists are studiously pretending don't exist,...

I'm not a creationist. But since you know it all and have your head implanted in your butt cheeks, you didn't hear...

[gondramB]

"So a scientist reporting superconductivity in Cobalt dioxide proves Genesis Christianity how?"

That was at the end of a long debate about radioactive dating...another poster suggested Noah's great flood had made the water superconducting and that changed the radiocarbon dating signature of everything on earth.

[metmom]

"The creationists typically add up the years mentioned n the bible and get an age of about 10,000 years. This requires the dinosaurs to lived at the same time as men so it requires a series of explanations that don't jibe with observed evidence."


Ussher did that in 1658 and it was pretty quickly disproved when contact with China was made. Somehow it stuck and became doctrine for some folks. Anyone who really investigates his method can find it's pretty weak. I don't think it's a fair statement to state that creationists do this as if all creationists do. If a fossil was found with a footprint and dino print together, it would prove that they co-existed but lack of a fossil is not proof that they didn't co-exist.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

BTW, evolution per se has nothing to do with my atheism.

It doesn't have annything to do with mine either, but I do see it as fair game for attack:

#1. nothing is sacred;

#2. the creationists vote and I genuinely hate the Marxists, certainly more than the religionists do (I do not see hate, greed or killing as being “sins”);

#3. I don't see any reason as to why evolution is the only theory that has such exalted status in education or how the federal government (including the courts) have any say so in the matter.

#4. I also view some of these critics of the religionists as enemies (you have not done or said anything to be included in that - yet). Many of them have the only purpose of being here to subvert my political objectives.

And when I say enemies, I mean the type I have encountered on a real battlefield, not in some mealy-mouthed courtroom with tassle shoed lawyers or sheltered, weakling university professors and television talking heads.

Now, as far as evolution is concerned, I see life through a prism of warfare. A lot of these chumps really wouldn't make the natural selection cut with with guys like me around if they didn't have some of those godist, religionist, bible thumping types manning their armies to protect them.

I'll stick with my comrades at arms because I know I can count on them. These other guys, I can count on them for nothing, except maybe a stab in the back...

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

Look, if you're not emotionally and/or logically able to deal with people pointing out your mistakes, go find some other thread to pester.

I discovered the thread before you. You run along old man...

[Ichneumon]

[What's not missing is huge mountains of evidence that have already been found, which the creationists are studiously pretending don't exist,...]

I'm not a creationist. But since you know it all and have your head implanted in your butt cheeks, you didn't hear...

I wasn't referring to you in that sentence, actually. But it's interesting that you're so quick to assume that I was, and so obnoxiously defensive about it....

Two literary quotes come to mind:

"The wicked flee when no man pursueth" -- Proverbs 28:1

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks." -- William Shakespeare, "Hamlet" (III, ii, 239)

[...] have your head implanted in your butt cheeks [...]

How old are you, twelve?

[Coyoteman]

sheltered, weakling university professors

Obviously you aren't talking about archaeologists! Why, we wrestle dinosaurs!

Actually, in a pinch we can make bow and arrows, spears, stone tools, grind acorns, and in general know an awful lot about primitive technology.

Need your hand-ax sharpened? Who you gonna call?

[Ichneumon]

[Look, if you're not emotionally and/or logically able to deal with people pointing out your mistakes, go find some other thread to pester.]

I discovered the thread before you. You run along old man...

Hey, *I'm* not the one getting overemotional here when his errors are pointed out to him... If you can't handle it like an adult, perhaps you should take up knitting or some other more soothing pursuit.

I have no need to run along, I'm quite in control of myself.

[Senator Bedfellow]

What's your take on it then? How do you think all this life came about?

[ml1954]

The Wedge document may drive a wedge it never intended. It may drive a wedge in and destroy the current majority conservative coalition.

If the GOP jumps on this bandwagon, many who have voted GOP in the past may take a pass in the future.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

How do you think all this life came about?

I don't know and neither does anyone else. That is what I object to with these idiot evolutionists, they think they know it all. Well, they don't, because if natural law were ever really allowed free reign, I would make them fossils.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

Need your hand-ax sharpened? Who you gonna call?

You should know. Remember the email I sent you, I live with the “Indians.”

[Ichneumon]

#1. nothing is sacred;

Who said something was?

#2. the creationists vote and I genuinely hate the Marxists, certainly more than the religionists do (I do not see hate, greed or killing as being “sins”);

And this has what to do with the discussion? Are you under the bizarre misconception that an evolutionist must be a Marxist?

#3. I don't see any reason as to why evolution is the only theory that has such exalted status in education

It doesn't have any "exalted status", actually. But it gets attacked more than any other, so of course you'll notice defenses of it more often.

or how the federal government (including the courts) have any say so in the matter.

Because the attacks are religiously motivated and done in a way intended to get thinly disguised religious views taught in public schools, which is a violation of the First Amendment. Try reading a newspaper.

#4. I also view some of these critics of the religionists as enemies (you have not done or said anything to be included in that - yet).

Because...?

Many of them have the only purpose of being here to subvert my political objectives.

Paranoid much? Which of your "political objectives" are you fantasizing that Freeper evolutionists are "only here" to subvert? And what's your alleged evidence for this persecution complex?

And when I say enemies, I mean the type I have encountered on a real battlefield, not in some mealy-mouthed courtroom with tassle shoed lawyers or sheltered, weakling university professors and television talking heads.

Yes, yes, let me know when your chest-beating dies down.

Now, as far as evolution is concerned, I see life through a prism of warfare. A lot of these chumps really wouldn't make the natural selection cut with with guys like me around if they didn't have some of those godist, religionist, bible thumping types manning their armies to protect them.

Ooookay... Ignoring the additional chest-beating, this diatribe raises some questions. If you are indeed an atheist, as you claim, and a "warrior", then:

1. Why do you presume that it's the "godist, religionist, bible thumping types" who "man their armies", without the asistance of other warrior-atheists like yourself? Do you think you're somehow unique or special?

2. You don't actually know any of "these chumps", so on what massive presumption are you basing any of your hasty conclusions about what they might or might not do in a pinch?

3. Your being an (alleged) atheist rules out deity-related origins, and your obvious antipathy to evolution rules that out, so what sort of position do you have on where/how mankind originated?

I'll stick with my comrades at arms because I know I can count on them. These other guys, I can count on them for nothing, except maybe a stab in the back...

You presume very much based on little besides than your prejudices.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

Because the attacks are religiously motivated and done in a way intended to get thinly disguised religious views taught in public schools, which is a violation of the First Amendment. Try reading a newspaper.

Ahhh, the truth at last... you are a newspaper troll!

The First Amendment says no such thing, classic Marxist/ACLU double talk...

[Ichneumon]

[How do you think all this life came about?]

I don't know

Clearly.

and neither does anyone else.

Wrong.

That is what I object to with these idiot evolutionists, they think they know it all.

Wrong again. None of us "think we know it all". We just know a great deal more than a) evolution-haters are giving us credit for, and b) anyone can who is so nihilist when it comes to knowledge and learning that he says things like, "I don't know and neither does anyone else". Actually, there's quite a lot we *do* know about the subject.

Well, they don't, because if natural law were ever really allowed free reign, I would make them fossils.

You're a legend in your own mind, clearly. But why don't you go ahead and explain exactly what you're really saying here? It should be... entertaining. If you mean that you'd sneak up behind us and murder us for disagreeing with you on evolutionary biology, go right ahead and say it straight out.