10 - You vigorously deny the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions, but feel outraged when someone denies the existence of yours.
9 - You feel insulted and “dehumanized” when scientists say that people evolved from other life forms, but you have no problem with the Biblical claim that we were created from dirt.
8 - You laugh at polytheists, but you have no problem believing in a Triune God.
7 - Your face turns purple when you hear of the “atrocities” attributed to Allah, but you don’t even flinch when hearing about how God/Jehovah slaughtered all the babies of Egypt in “Exodus” and ordered the elimination of entire ethnic groups in “Joshua” including women, children, and trees!
6 - You laugh at Hindu beliefs that deify humans, and Greek claims about gods sleeping with women, but you have no problem believing that the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary, who then gave birth to a man-god who got killed, came back to life and then ascended into the sky.
5 - You are willing to spend your life looking for little loopholes in the scientifically established age of Earth (few billion years), but you find nothing wrong with believing dates recorded by Bronze Age tribesmen sitting in their tents and guessing that Earth is a few generations old.
4 - You believe that the entire population of this planet with the exception of those who share your beliefs — though excluding those in all rival sects - will spend Eternity in an infinite Hell of Suffering. And yet consider your religion the most “tolerant” and “loving.”
3 - While modern science, history, geology, biology, and physics have failed to convince you otherwise, some idiot rolling around on the floor speaking in “tongues” may be all the evidence you need to “prove” Christianity.
2 - You define 0.01% as a “high success rate” when it comes to answered prayers. You consider that to be evidence that prayer works. And you think that the remaining 99.99% FAILURE was simply the will of God.
1 - You actually know a lot less than many atheists and agnostics do about the Bible, Christianity, and church history - but still call yourself a Christian.
This is a a debate from 2006 between critical thinker Michael Shermer and wacko creationist Kent Hovind. Kent’s arguments mostly rely on “God did it, it’s in the Bible”. It’s somewhat frustrating to watch the audience buy into Kent’s very flawed logic, straw man arguments and red herrings. Michael does a decent job of staying on point.
One of the most famous examples is the spread of a gene that allows adults to digest milk.
Though children were able to drink milk, they typically developed lactose intolerance as they grew up. But after cattle and goats were domesticated in Europe and yaks and mares were domesticated in Asia, adults with a mutation that allowed them to digest milk had a nutritional advantage over those without.
As a result, they were more likely to have healthy offspring, prompting the mutation to spread, Hawks said.
I guess God didn’t create us in his own image, unless he was lactose intolerant.
An ancestor of mammals first took to the trees before the age of dinosaurs, evolving the first known opposable thumbs on the way, a group of Toronto researchers reports
Another link in the chain found. Or, if you’re a creationist, 2 more gaps in the fossil record found.
To mark Darwin’s birthday, AM640 radio in Toronto had a quick discussion about evolution and creation between evangelical minister Ray Comfort (the atheists nightmare banana guy) and Scott Campbell, a member of the Centre for Inquiry.
Scott hammered it home, and really showed that Ray has no idea what evolution really is.
Why Ray Was Wrong
Ray constantly tried to tie evolution and “Darwinism” in with atheism, and they really don’t have anything to do with each other.
Thinks evolution produced species to species transitions
Says that evolutionist say that “nothing created everything”, which Scott points out is NOT the scientific position
His example of the heart forming again shows that he doesn’t even understand how evolution works, thinking that blood and the heart and vessels would all form separately, and how could one exist without the other
Ray spent time calling insulting Scott rather than proving his point
Ray said that “atheists don’t want moral accountability to God”, which is a non-sequitur
Why Scott Was Right
Supporting the scientific evidence of evolution is not the same as being an atheist; you CAN be a believer and support evolution
There is a myriad of scientific evidence
The myth of the “gaps”
Multiple transitional fossils
Points out that creationists beleive that the Bible is the word of God and that science HAS TO conform with it - this is really the best point to be made and show why creationists do what they do and don’t do real science
Creationsists use God as the answer to the gaps
When science says “I don’t know”, it’s an apportunity. When creationists say “I don’t know” that means that God did it.
Points out why the argument is bogus about a Ford truck has a creator because it exists so therefor must nature, such as the Watchmaker analogy
Humans have an incapcity to estimate odds, makes a great analogy about playing cards
Long legs and skittish behavior are recently evolved traits that allow fence lizards in the southeastern U.S. to co-exist with lethal and invasive fire ants, according to a new study.
Over the course of about 70 years, these fence lizards evolved to have longer legs to protect themselves from the fire ants, which would attack their under belly. The longer legs allow them to shrug the ants off.
Observable, verified evolution over the course of only 70 years. I thought that God created all creatues as is?
The drama over the potential inclusion of creationism or intelligent design in Texas biology curriculum is over for now as a coalition of six Democrats and two Republicans defeated an amendment that would have maintained discussion of evolution’s “weaknesses.”
Textbook publishers cater to the influential Texas market, so whether or not science books continued to kowtow to creationism is of great interest nationally—changes to Texas’ science curriculum will likely be echoed across the land. The exact issue was whether to re-incorporate the phrase “strengths and weaknesses” into the discussion of evolution in state biology curriculum. The loathsome Discovery Institute had it’s scaly hands all over this fail.
The big deal about referring to “weaknesses” in evolution is that there aren’t any. Creationists are trying to introduce controversy and suggest that gaps in evidence equal flaws in the theory. We’ve seen those gaps steadily filled in as knowledge and technology increase. There’s no reason to think knowledge won’t continue grow, unless of course the Discovery Institute has its way.
This is a vote on the science curriculum, not theology or philosophy. It’s certainly not an issue of free speech; I doubt high school kids have been doing research and uncovered a dramatic flaw that’s being suppressed by wily biology teachers. There are no “sides” to be on; within the realm of science this theory is the accepted one, due to overwhelming evidence, for the diversity of life.
Here are some of the reasons those who understand the process and results of science “believe” in evolution:
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