Posted on 09/19/2008 7:17:04 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Even here, although this is one of the best discussion sites extant, a certain thickness of skin is required. You have to be able to just shrug your shoulders and not care.
Scientists rely on evidence, and on the testing of hypotheses and theories.
What we see from some posters here is the opposite; religious belief couched in the terms of science, but reflecting an absolute and willful ignorance of science and how it operates.
One of the classic posts purported to show that evolution was impossible because it violated the "law of thermal documents." This type of willful ignorance, repeated over and over in spite of detailed explanations to the contrary, is enough to drive most scientists away. That, and the many times those who accept the evidence for the theory of evolution have been called nazis, and informed that they are destined for hell.
I have had many posters tell me that carbon 14 dating is inaccurate, and they refuse to consider my posts explaining how the method works and how it can be correlated against other methods of age determination--and that it is quite accurate. These posters know absolutely nothing about the method other than what they find on creationist websites and books, while I have done nearly 600 radiocarbon dates and studied the method for three decades. And those posters are proud of their ignorance, and can't wait for the next thread to repeat the same mistakes.
Scientists are not impressed by this level of argument, and a good many have indeed left (or been banned).
“This type of willful ignorance, repeated over and over in spite of detailed explanations to the contrary, is enough to drive most scientists away.”
Then, IMO, they are too thin-skinned. You can talk over, under, around, and through such posts. You don’t even have to read them. If you do read them, you don’t have to care.
I’m not a seven-day, young-earth creationist. I don’t deny science. What that means is I get it from both sides. I get it from the YECs for not going along with them, and I get it from (some) scientists for thinking that the ultimate source of all this is God. (Perhaps this universe started with a big bang, but God made it happen, and it unfolded according to laws He established.)
I don’t know of any large Web sites that are completely free of all unpleasantness.
That’s just life among the humans.
No one here has ever seen your work or your credentials. So in that aspect your opinion carries no more weight than anyone else’s here.
What good is a PHD and works if you have to hide it in anonymity? Sorry CM, but thats how it is.
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