My Bullsh*t detector

[Jacob(smooth)]

Wow! You've met them? All of them? You know not only what they believe but WHY they believe it?

See I don't believe in creationism. I think life evolved over a few billion years. But I've met some pretty smart people who believe otherwise, and they believe for all sorts of reasons. So although I think they are wrong, I wouldn't know enough to infer their rationale's without talking to them first.

I can think of one off the top of my head who has a degree in podiatry, a masters degree in clinical biomechanics, and Jesus. Now I think he's wrong about the origin of the species and quite a lot of his theology. But I wouldn't say that he'd skipped "science class".

I didn't say all Christians think this way. It's clearly hyperbolic for a reason.

Every argument against evolution I've seen is based on a poor understanding of what the theory states -- usually as interpreted by a person's church -- and straw-man assertions not contained in the theory.

People are good at compartmentalizing. A good understanding of several areas in science is no guarantee they don't hold wildly unfounded beliefs in other areas.

I would wager he plugged his ears during the parts of Biology classes where they described the mechanics of adaptation, and simply refuses to recognize similarities between Humans and other Primates.

That is assuming your friend is not made-up to prove a point.

But then again, what do I know. I'm merely a longtime student of Comparative Religion and a fan of George Carlin.

Longtime student?

What I'm trying to say to you, young brother, is this. You have your corner of truth and you're all proud of it. That's a good and noble thing. But its worth remembering that your little corner of truth stands all alone. I think you're quite correct about evolution, and quite correct that YEC people are wrong. But you then seem to have over-extrapolated that into dumb shit like "they must have plugged their ears in biology class" and "they think that you have to witness something for it to be real".

I will now tell your future for you. You will, in the next few years, study something and draw what you think is a logical conclusion. You may even be so chuffed with your discovery that you rip the piss out of people who think differently. And then, a few years later, you will gain a deeper understanding and feel a bit sheepish about what you concluded with such confidence. That's an experience I suspect is common to all open minded people, its certainly happened to me more than once.

People reach very odd conclusions from data. Rather than presume to understand not merely their conclusions but how and why they reached them, my advice would be to realize now that a small truth does not give you an understanding into a larger one.

Who knows, perhaps that's one of the things you'll accept in a few years and look back with embarrassment.