Bevets: tinyarena: Also, it doesn't even seem like the Bev-bot is genuine. One of the rules of Xian Apologists is the "don't cast your pearls before swine" principle.

If you could train yourself to ignore my posts, I think everyone would win.

I'll try Bevets. You've been here long enough to understand. If you got a Green, and someone just snuffed for the lulz,,well, let's just say it's not a very Christian thing to do...

Actual conversation with family during Christmas. After much drinking, the topic turned to religion:

me: So why do you think the earth is only 6000 years old?

sister-in-law: Because the bible I have has a timeline that says so.

me: You know the bible shouldn't be taken literally right? The bible is more of an allegorical and symbolic message. Do you really believe every word of people that thought the world was flat and that the entire universe revolved around the earth?

sister-in-law: of course I do.

me: Even though the general acceptance among scientists, have concluded that the world is older?

sister-in-law: Which scientists, the same scientists who say the earth is 80 million years old?

me: Actually they think it's around 4.5 billion years old.

sister-in-law: How could they possibly even know that?

me: Through Potassium-Argon dating. So wait, you think that Adam and Eve were actually real people?

sister-in-law: Yeah, they were totally real people.

Me: Sweetie, it's just a story. There's overwhelming observable evidence which shows that modern Homo Sapiens have evolved over the course of approximately 200,000 years.

sister-in-law: I didn't come from a monkey.

me: You're right, but DNA sequencing and the human fossil record shows that humans and chimpanzees have a common ancestor.

sister-in-law: That's just made up, if it was true how come monkeys aren't turning into humans now?

me: (literal facepalm) Because we are not descendants of monkeys, a monkey never turned into a human, we are distinct species of primates that evolved over the course of thousands of years from a common ancestor.

(Brother-in-law now joins the conversation.)

me: Brother-in-law, you're a deputy sheriff. You believe in forensic DNA testing right? Don't you both believe that we can identify a person based on their DNA profile? (They both say yes). So if you believe that we have the scientific capability to identify someone through their DNA, why don't you believe we have the scientific capability to find out the origins of the human species through DNA sequencing?

Brother-in-law: uhh

me: You know, it's ok to believe in science and have faith in God. Let me ask you one more question, do you believe children can inherit behaviors and traits from their parents?

Both: yes

me: Then you believe in evolution.

Both Wait, ummm, uhhh.

xdedd: Actual conversation with family during Christmas. After much drinking, the topic turned to religion:

I love drunken philosophical conversations. They're so unbelievably honest.

BEVETS (new window)

at any rate, it's good to see this bill failed. Facts and Science are nto to be cast aside in favor of magic.

Perhaps this is a silly thought, but why hasn't Drew just set up an anti-troll flag for threads? Kind of like a thread based ban system. ie: Bevets or whatever alternate name he's using is not allowed in your thread and as his other sock puppets show up they can be identified and added to the troll list. After all, he's not wanted and his constant idiocy only annoys other users here. Why not make it harder for him to troll?

Memoryalpha: Perhaps this is a silly thought, but why hasn't Drew just set up an anti-troll flag for threads? Kind of like a thread based ban system. ie: Bevets or whatever alternate name he's using is not allowed in your thread and as his other sock puppets show up they can be identified and added to the troll list. After all, he's not wanted and his constant idiocy only annoys other users here. Why not make it harder for him to troll?

Because trolls = clicks = money.

czetie: sprawl15: The evidence at trial demonstrates that ID is nothing less than the progeny of creationism.

If ID evolved from Creationism, how come there is still Creationism, Mr. Smarty Judge?

AlgaeRancher: a better translation changing the word day in the book of Genesis creation story to period of time, comes up with a creation story that closely paralells our scientific understanding of how the earth formed.

Does it bollocks. Even the most generous reading of Genesis 1:1 through 1:31 can't get away from the fact that God creates the sun and the moon (and the stars, too) four "periods" after he creates day and night, and three "periods" after he separates the earth from the "vault". And apparently, domesticated animals (or livestock) get created one "period" before people are created to domesticate them.

The only thing in Genesis that agrees with Science is "In the beginning...". After that, it's all downhill for the fireside camp stories of Bronze Age Semitic goat-herders.

Apropos: The Book Song (new window)

Bevets: Science has explained, in detail, the mechanism by which organisms reproduce via meiosis and mitosis driving macro-scale growth and development. Over time, they've shown that these processes can include adaptations that promote the survival of the species. Furthermore, we've proven that human fossils vastly pre-date young-earth estimates.

Okay, so you post a bunch of stuff from your own blog and old newspaper clippings... but still no answer whatsoever. I like that your quotes are pretty much all philosophy and not science, but then of course any scientific quotes would ruin your "point."

Fluffy_the_cactus: All that said, I don't think I've ever seen Bevets respond with hostility to someone else, so I don't quite get all the hostility sent his way.

If you insert yourself into a conversation and then deliberately evade, redirect, and just plain jack the conversation at a party, people are going to get upset. Do it online, where people are already constantly on the verge of a flame-spray, people are going to get snippy.

tinyarena: We have learned that, once a thread is infected it becomes repetitive, loses focus, and soon dies.

Tiny, I don't quite get that-- it seems to me that BEVETS in a thread amplifies the number of responses massively.

As for being a troll, you need somebody on the other side if you aren't just going to preach to the choir (if you'll pardon), and BEVETS is impressively devoted -- I don't believe he's trolling for a second.

Religious conviction, sincere prayer, divinely-inspired scripture has completely convinced him of something demonstrably, factually, obviously wrong. Thus BEVETS is the perfect living demonstration of the inherent fallibility of faith -- don't condemn the sincere anti-witness, his is an important voice.

OhioKnight: tinyarena: We have learned that, once a thread is infected it becomes repetitive, loses focus, and soon dies.

Tiny, I don't quite get that-- it seems to me that BEVETS in a thread amplifies the number of responses massively.

As for being a troll, you need somebody on the other side if you aren't just going to preach to the choir (if you'll pardon), and BEVETS is impressively devoted -- I don't believe he's trolling for a second.

Religious conviction, sincere prayer, divinely-inspired scripture has completely convinced him of something demonstrably, factually, obviously wrong. Thus BEVETS is the perfect living demonstration of the inherent fallibility of faith -- don't condemn the sincere anti-witness, his is an important voice.

OhioKnight: tinyarena: We have learned that, once a thread is infected it becomes repetitive, loses focus, and soon dies.

Tiny, I don't quite get that-- it seems to me that BEVETS in a thread amplifies the number of responses massively.

As for being a troll, you need somebody on the other side if you aren't just going to preach to the choir (if you'll pardon), and BEVETS is impressively devoted -- I don't believe he's trolling for a second.

Religious conviction, sincere prayer, divinely-inspired scripture has completely convinced him of something demonstrably, factually, obviously wrong. Thus BEVETS is the perfect living demonstration of the inherent fallibility of faith -- don't condemn the sincere anti-witness, his is an important voice.

Perfectly stated.

Those of us that understand the brazenly bronze-age rhetoric which Bevets emits can simply scroll forward. However, there are a lot of curious and developing minds out there.

Remember when you first took that philosophy/epistemology class, when you wanted to hear everybody's story to understand truth to a greater degree? This foil (Bevets and the like) is crucial to distance oneself from the dark ages and to spread the good word of, well, reality. Banning him is not only a disservice to the idea of free speech, but it is also bad for those genuinely looking for answers.

Aaaaaaaaaand, DERP. Carry on, Farkers.

xdedd:
sister-in-law: I didn't come from a monkey.

I think that is the prime reason right there why we have so many problems. I also call it the "I'm special damnit!" reasoning to throw out any evidence so no matter what you say, people can't take being told that the forces leading to the existence of the species is understood and it was the same as any other animal.

OhioKnight: tinyarena:

Tiny, I don't quite get that--

Sorry, not gonna say it - I'm a man of my word I am

/some other time Ohio

People still getting snared by a simple bot program that simply madlibs random quotes?

Good job, Skinnyhead. Your program keeps hooking a lot....

Bevets: I have said before: How an argument is conducted can be just as revealing as the content of the argument. If this were a normal political thread, there would be disagreement, but you wouldnt find repeated calls for opponents to be banned. But this is not your typical political thread. The topic is sacred evolutionism and that cuts much deeper than the typical politics thread.

This goes both ways you know. The negative reaction you garner has just as much, if not more to do with your copy-and-paste quotes (with implied arguments from authority) than 'sacred evolutionism'.

Sometimes, arguing like a dick gets you a negative reaction, no matter what the subject matter.

"freedom to teach"? excellent! "today class we'll be studing the advances in math and optics as discovered by Arab scientists"
/algebra... al jabr

Maybe we should start requiring churchs to publish papers providing evidence to creation in order to keep their tax exempt status.

While we all find this topic uplifting, some of us actually live in Oklahoma.
In my 33 years living in this great state I have noticed a few things. First off as the buckle of the Bible belt, if it was a person, is bi-polar. Both in weather and political views. There is a strong sense of do as I say but not what I do. The religious folk don't want an honest sex education, yet Oklahoma ranks 5th highest in the nation for teen pregnancy. Oklahoma is also ranked in the top 5 for divorce rates. The evolution topic has been brewing here for a while. Personally I feel education should be based on fact or as close to fact as current science can provide. If you choose to ignore science and all it has provided, well that's fine too. But please take into account that one day your sheltered snowflake with a myopic view on the world will be seeking employment. If you happen to live in Oklahoma City remember to VOTE TUESDAY!!! Know your district. The Gazette's website has a great break down. www.okgazette.com