# The evolution/creation ANSWER (End!) **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 6, 1999, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-evolution-creation-answer-end/16707 "1999-09-06T03:31:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 1999, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-evolution-creation-answer-end/16707/41 "1999-09-09T18:28:00Z")
Stoidela: > [@](#): > > But aren’t these adaptations of forms intended for other uses? And just how warm does an ostrich need to be on the veldt? (I love that word). How warm does a lion have to be on the veldt (and it is a nice-sounding word)? Yet it’s furry all over. > [@](#): > > it does not require an abandonment of faith in God’s creation to accept that He used the mechanism of evolution to do it with No, but it does require an abandonment of faith in the Bible to accept that Earth and living things on it have been around and developing slowly for millions of years, and that animals (and humans) descended from different animals rather than being created in approximately their current forms. And since most creationists’ belief in G-d is based on the Bible, if you throw out the Bible, where does that leave their religions? > [@](#): > > It is a matter of shame that in 1999, an American state can shun truth and science in the service of (insecure) religious pressure. That Kansas thing has, IMHO, been blown extremely out of proportion. There’s no ban on teaching evolution, merely a lack of requirement to do so. And while a prior thread here has convinced me that a genuine understanding of biology is incomplete without explaining the importance of the survival instinct and adaptation, teaching that living things evolved from simpler forms and, prior to that, from inanimate chemicals is a bit of a stretch to consider a necessary part of a curriculum. Chaim Mattis Keller ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 1999, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-evolution-creation-answer-end/16707/42 "1999-09-09T18:58:00Z")
Call me disrespectful, intolerant, nasty, or whatever, but I simply think it’s obvious that the fact that the earth is millions of years old is not something about which reasonable people may differ. It is not a matter of opinion or subject to conjecture; it is simply true. I’m not sure why some people find that so threatening. ---
**Author:** ![VegForLife](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/9de0a6/32.png) [@VegForLife](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VegForLife)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 1999, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-evolution-creation-answer-end/16707/43 "1999-09-09T20:43:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Feathers (or fur) are necessary for insulation in warm-blooded creatures I musta plucked all of mine out when I was stressed as a baby. I do recall hearing a story about an ear infection I had once. . . Rich ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 1999, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-evolution-creation-answer-end/16707/44 "1999-09-10T01:11:00Z")
Does anyone else find it curious that when we question the existance of god and comment on the lack of evidence for creationism, it’s called Christian-bashing, but when they tell us we are going to burn in Hell for all eternity, it’s called love? Someone should write a English-Christian, Christian-English dictionary. :). ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 1999, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-evolution-creation-answer-end/16707/45 "1999-09-10T11:00:00Z")
First, kudos to Chaim for his post above. “…since most creationists’ faith is based on the Bible…” Right on target! Adam and Jeffery, a hypothetical question: Imagine for a moment that the next post is one from David or Stoidela that clearly proves the total invalidity of the Old Testament to any rational person. E.g., a new “book” is found at Qumran that describes the work of a team of rabbis under orders from John Hyrcanus (Maccabean high priest/ ethnarch of Judea about 100 BC) to set up a false history for the Jews and a set of myths to keep them under control. Where does this leave your faith? That is totally hypothetical and of course extremely unlikely. But what would it mean for you? =============== As for the “obviousness” of the age of the earth, it’s not really so obvious. Lord Kelvin, brilliant physicist of the late 19th century, held out for a young Earth, not on religious principles, but because (not knowing abour radioactivity) he could see no way for the Earth’s core to remain molten for millions of years. With the data we have today, IF you look into it at all thoroughly and objectively, you become convinced that either (a) the world is several billion years old or (b) Somebody is playing the world’s largest practical joke. If you assume that (i) there is Nobody or (ii) Somebody is not a practical joker, then conclusion (a) is the only valid one. Only “scientific creationists” believe that Somebody is a practical joker, and I have a hard time keeping myself from thinking that this is because they care more about adherence to their dogma that the Bible is true when taken verbatim than they do about the reputation and characteristics of God. The term “scientific creationist” bothers me for the same reason as a physicist who is a devout Catholic is disturbed at being thought a faith-healer if he calls himself a Christian scientist. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-evolution-creation-answer-end/16707.md?page=2)