I realized that I'd rather have 21st century conversations about the important questions in life.
You're 35 years old, so that's something you still need to do. I'm double that, and there are no more important unanswered questions for me except some unanswerable ones. Now, it's all just play, and I like this game a lot.
people are still talking about evolution v. creationism here... that debate was won over a century ago.
Then you've misunderstood what's happening here. The critical thinkers aren't debating creationism or creationists, and I doubt any need be disabused of the notion that that they can help any of them. The critical thinkers are posting to one another. I am now.
Here a comment I left on another thread:
"The scientific community is in consensus on the central tenets of biological evolution, which evidence is presently unassailable. The theory is correct. There is no debate. The creationist community has no standing in the argument and isn't even heard by the scientists much less answered since they stopped showing that allegedly irreducibly complex biological systems were not that. But creationists shouldn't feel picked on by these scientists. They don't care what any lay person thinks, even those who accept the theory and happen to agree with them. They don't need that validation."
Who could possibly benefit from such a post or my reposting it here now? Not you. You're gone. And not the creationists. So who then? Maybe nobody, but maybe this is an idea that will resonate with some of the others who do what I do here and they will use similar language in future threads. "What debate?"
And here's another comment:
"As I experience it, this experience on RF is an education I can't get elsewhere. It comes from a few sources. I learn from the like-minded people with various expertises - people like you. I call that the lecture section. I learn from observing the spectrum of believers and nonbelievers who participate here and generalizing about the effects of various religious beliefs - mostly Abrahamic or polytheistic (pagan, Dharmic) - using the spectrum of unbelievers as a control. I call that the lab section. Where else can I read such words, words written over weeks to years between anonymous writers that appear nowhere else in our lives such as at work or the Thanksgiving table, where discussion is brief and often highly self-censored. That's not all. Participating on a message board is a chance to hone up on critical thinking skills such as learning to identify and name logical fallacies. One gets a chance to refine his arguments over time. One gets to practice writing. And it's entertaining."
This was also written for like-minded people for the same reason, and is repeated here for whomever may benefit from reading them. Who else would possibly be interested in them?
I'm off to go join the group of spaceships at the front of the caravan, you guys can stay back here with the horse and buggies if you want.
Sounds like a scene from an old movie about a
young'un jes' bustin' to get to the big city, like George Bailey in It's A Wonderful Life. Good luck. It's a big world out there. "Just remember, there's a lot of bad and beware."
