Evolution v Creationism: A Dead Issue

[Jose Fly]

As someone who spent a lot of time on the evolution v creationism battles over the last 20 years, I've noticed that in the last 5 years or so the issue seems to have largely gone off the radar. In the message boards that are still around (both Christian and secular) it's barely debated, if at all. Websites specifically dedicated to countering creationist talking points such as talkorigins and pandasthumb have gone silent, seemingly because there just isn't much to talk about.

Surveys have shown that younger Americans accept the reality of evolution at pretty much the same rate as the rest of the developed world. Thanks to national focus on science education by organizations like the NCSE, evolution is more widely taught than ever, even in the deep south. The Discovery Institute (the main "intelligent design" organization) stopped advocating for ID creationism to be taught in schools years ago, and they closed their alleged "research arm" last year.

On the science front, creationism remains as it has for over a century....100% scientifically irrelevant.

So for all practical intents and purposes, this debate is over. There isn't any sort of public debate over teaching creationism, nor is there any real debate about whether evolution should be taught. For sure there's still work to do in some parts of the country (mostly the south and interior west) where even though evolution is officially required, teachers don't teach it either because it's "too controversial" or they don't believe it themselves, but big picture-wise, "evolution v creationism" is in about the same state as "spherical v flat earth"....nothing more than something a handful of people argue about on the internet, but outside of that has little to no significance. And even on that front it's kinda dead....most forums where it's openly debated have a very skewed ratio where there's like 10 "evolutionists" for every 1 creationist.

Glad to see it!

[Abigail]

The only thing atheists have in common is the lack of belief in god/gods.

Atheists don't realize that is a faith in itself.

I always love the "lack of belief is faith argument." We don't realize it is a faith for the very simple reason that it isn't.


Tcg

Faith 1.Complete trust or confidence in someone or something.
https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/faith

[Tcg]

The only thing atheists have in common is the lack of belief in god/gods.

Atheists don't realize that is a faith in itself.

I always love the "lack of belief is faith argument." We don't realize it is a faith for the very simple reason that it isn't.


Tcg

Faith 1.Complete trust or confidence in someone or something.
https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/faith

Nice quote. Now all you have to do is explain how it applies to lack of belief.


Tcg

[Abigail]

DBL post

[Abigail]

The only thing atheists have in common is the lack of belief in god/gods.

Atheists don't realize that is a faith in itself.

I always love the "lack of belief is faith argument." We don't realize it is a faith for the very simple reason that it isn't.


Tcg

Faith 1.Complete trust or confidence in someone or something.
https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/faith

Nice quote. Now all you have to do is explain how it applies to lack of belief.


Tcg

Not a quote, a definition put into quotation brackets to identify it as that which is copied and pasted from a linked source.


The delusion that atheism is lack of belief can't be overcome by reason.

Atheists believe there is no evidence anything referred to as God is sustained by credible proof it exists in order to be called God.

While everything that exists has no contrary evidence to the God theory. Save for the posited theories proposed by the sciences that have no evidence for causal reality.

Or to make it easier to understand, no evidence as to what caused everything that exists to come into being.

[The Barbarian]

The only thing atheists have in common is the lack of belief in god/gods.

Atheists don't realize that is a faith in itself.

I always love the "lack of belief is faith argument." We don't realize it is a faith for the very simple reason that it isn't.


Tcg

Agnosticism isn't faith. Atheism, the assertion that one knows there are no gods, is pretty close to faith. But few atheists are really asserting this. Richard Dawkins, for example, says he can't be sure that there isn't a god. He just says he has no evidence for one.

[brunumb]

The delusion that atheism is lack of belief can't be overcome by reason.

You've identified that lack of belief is a delusion. Can you please substantiate that.

[Diagoras]

[Replying to Abigail in post #283]

You might find you get more replies if you start a new thread in the appropriate sub-forum (either Philosophy for an 'atheism is faith', or Science for a 'no credible theory of material reality' topic).

While it's fairly typical for debates here to get derailed and stuck on some tangential aspect of the original question, the aim is still to stay on topic. Have you any particular view on the OP that you wanted to share?

[Abigail]

[Replying to Abigail in post #283]

You might find you get more replies if you start a new thread in the appropriate sub-forum (either Philosophy for an 'atheism is faith', or Science for a 'no credible theory of material reality' topic).

While it's fairly typical for debates here to get derailed and stuck on some tangential aspect of the original question, the aim is still to stay on topic. Have you any particular view on the OP that you wanted to share?

Yes. I've shared my pov regarding the OP already. Thanks.

[Abigail]

The delusion that atheism is lack of belief can't be overcome by reason.

You've identified that lack of belief is a delusion. Can you please substantiate that.

I can't assist your request because I have not said what you attributed to me.

[brunumb]

The delusion that atheism is lack of belief can't be overcome by reason.

You've identified that lack of belief is a delusion. Can you please substantiate that.

I can't assist your request because I have not said what you attributed to me.

Perhaps you could elaborate on your statement "the delusion that atheism is lack of belief" in order to clarify my misunderstanding.