There are a few key points that I hope you take away from
reading this article:
Creationism is far more popular among politicians than
scientists.
If you never bothered earnestly studying how evolution works,
you probably got it wrong.
Evolution theory was originally created as a solution to a
problem, and creationism never even attempts to address that
problem.
Evolution is supported not only by the similarities in the
family tree, but also by its even more important divisions.
It's a family tree, not a family sponge.
A real scientific theory can predict not just what can
happen, but also what can't.
"God did it" is not an explanation. You can't
explain a mystery with a mystery.
The fact that scientists don't know everything does not
mean they know nothing.
Science is based on a competition model, similar to the
capitalist free market model. This is why there will always be
disputes; those disputes are perfectly normal and do not mean that
any given theory is necessarily "in crisis".
There are "dissident" scientists at the fringe who
push ideas that are junk science at best, such as the BYU astronomy
professor peddling 9/11 conspiracy theories or the Pentagon-funded
researchers investigating psychic teleportation for the military.
Keep that in mind the next time you are told that there are
numerous scientists pushing "creation theory". A theory
does not become legitimized the instant someone publishes it; it
must pass peer review.
Religion may bring many people spiritual comfort, but only an
uneducated person can afford to believe that science is no more
reliable than religion. No sane engineer would design a bridge
using the Bible rather than applied scientific theories.
It is not up to the high-school student to decide what is the
correct answer on his own test. The inmates do not run the
asylum.
Education is more than just vocational training; we sell our
kids and our entire democratic society short when we give children
substandard science education in order to appease the religious
lobby.
Try to keep them in mind the next time you find yourself
conversing with a creationist. Or, if you are a creationist
yourself, please go back and read the preceding article in its
entirety, because I know you just skipped right to the end
and are about to tell me how wrong I am without bothering to read
what I wrote.
This site was written using OpenOffice, running on Mandriva Linux.