So... What are they afraid of?

[AngusJS]

Originally Posted by ETR3(SS)

Upon re-reading my post, after reading your post, I realize a clarification of my position is in order. In my opinion the amount of supporting evidence for one or the other is irrelevant.

Then how do you decide anything at all? Determining the amount and quality of evidence for one side or another is kind of the way people decide things.

Both sides have the coup de grace that they have to provide to irrefutably prove their side correct. Creationist's would have to provide direct proof of God's existence,

Tell that to Ken Miller, a Catholic biologist and ardent supporter of evolution. If it was proven tomorrow that god existed, that wouldn't change the evidence for evolution in the slightest. Evolution does not equal atheism, no matter how much the creationists say so.

and likewise evolutionist's would have to provide the common ancestor as proof to win the argument.

No, evolution has already been proven. The entire fossil record proves evolution, along with the fact that we have actually observed speciation occurring. I don't know what more you could ask for. You might as well insist that the Big Bang theory hasn't been proven yet until we actually go back in time to witness the Big Bang.

A word devised by science can not be applied to religion. My intent was to put them on par with each other as far as proof goes.

So, Young Earth creationism, which states that the universe is 6,000-10,000 years old, and proves this with a) the bible and b) lies, is somehow on an equal footing with everything we know about the universe today gained from astronomy, geology, archeology, biology, physics, chemistry, etc. ?

The thing is, modern creationism isn't just the belief in a supernatural being which is supposedly beyond the purview of science. It's the reaction to facts by people who don't like those facts because they conflict with their favorite idea, and who then either propagate or accept lies and distortions to try and wish those inconvenient facts away. It makes falsifiable claims about the natural world. That those claims have been continuously falsified for the past 150 years hasn't quite gotten through to creationists, however.

I think the problem that Palin and others have is that if they refuse to accept the facts of primate evolution, it will seem odd to put humans in with the rest of the animal kingdom. However, if they accepted the fact that evolution led from Lucy to to the Neanderthals, who made clothes and controlled fire, then suddenly our place among all the other animals on the planet makes a lot more sense.

Evolution is not a left/right issue or an atheist/theist issue. It's a fact, supported by boatloads of evidence.

People who persist in denying facts solely because they contradict their favorite idea are unfit to govern.