A Creationist Conference

Over at the EvolutionBlog, Jason Rosenhouse has written two posts about his attendence to a creation science seminar:

Part I

Part II

Here are some interesting things he notes:

Creationists tend to fancy themselves as science-savy when they are anything but.

Most creationists are not dogmatic idiots, but simply people who misunderstand science. Of course, the leaders of creationism, the ones who give the talks and write the books, usually are charlatans; Yet the ones who follow all this nonsense simply do not understand science.

One creationist gave a talk about how the Creation "Model" was highly incomplete and unevidenced. I was surprised that there are creationists who will actually acknowledge such. Apparently, the guy giving this talk wrapped things up by saying that Christian Apologists don't need to focus on empirical evidence so much as talking about spiritual things.

With that last observation, it should be very clear to anyone who does not already know this that: Creationism is ultimately an emotionally inspired belief. This is why the battle against creationism will not be won simply by evidence. It is, of course, always a good idea to talk about the nature of science and the evidence for evolution, and to recommend helpful books and websites. That may go a long way in convincing those who have an open mind.