Debating with a creationist is actually really easy, because they only have a few standard arguments, and haven't come up with any new cogent ones for some time. These standard arguments have been published time and time again, and a practiced creationist can handily draw them like a six-gun at the drop of a hat. All of their arguments are silly in their wrongness and easily debunked, and if you're prepared in advance, it's easy to beat down any creationist with a quick verbal body slam. You're not going to change their mind, since creationists do not base their opinions upon rational study of the evidence; but you might help clear things up for an innocent bystander who overhears.Sadly, he is right. You probably will not change their minds.
Hat tip to LGF.
While I agree most uninformed creationists will reach for such arguments, it seems to me most veteran creationists have a lot more sophisticated reasoning. This rebuttal cheat sheet only seems to be addressing the low hanging fruit. Not that any one site could ever adequately address all creationist claims, as there are always more that can be made up.
ReplyDeletePete, I would love to agree with you but my experience does not bear this up. While it is true that your average AIG or ICR post on a particular subject has a tad more substance than your average creationist can muster, these groups actively support and promote publishers that produce books that have exactly these kinds of problems. A bit back, I encountered some of these in a book on dinosaurs. My son's astronomy book has arguments in it that were dispatched thirty years ago! Robert Pennock made the observation one time that, during a debate with Duane Gish, he asked Gish about the outdated information he was giving about Australopithecines. When Gish admitted that he no longer used that argument, Pennock then asked why tracts available out in the lobby still had the information in it. They may have more sophisticated reasoning but they continue to promote the same, tired idiotic arguments.
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