Booboo writes:
I have read many hundreds of anti-Hovind remarks, and they ALL either make personal attacks at HIM (unnecessary) or they make propositions and hypotheses that go against him and claim that Hovind lied. Honestly, if you had actual, irrefutable, empirical PROOF for evolution, Hovind would pay up.
The value of the challenge is that it exists. It persuades people like you that his claims must be true because he has put his money where his mouth is. In reality he trusts that his evasions will not become broadly public, though they are readily enough available on the Internet (for instance, see
http://www.geocities.com/kenthovind/challenge.html for an analysis of the challenge, and links to the accounts of six individuals who have attempted (and failed) to get Hovind to accept their challenge).
Fossils, radiometric dating, and the geologic strata would not hold up in a court of law as PROOF for evolution--consider the OPEN-MINDED creationist to be the Jury that will decide whether or not substantial evidence exists for evolution.
Scientific views become accepted by convincing the preponderance of scientists qualified to have an opinion, not by being examined in a court of law. As has already been pointed out to you, theories are not proven and can never be proven because of the principle of tentativity. Theories must always remain open to modification or replacement in light of new knowledge or improved understanding.
As you will gradually learn, Hovind is interested in faith and salvation, not science. He understands the art of persuasion very well and science not at all. Even other Creationist organizations reject Hovind's science, AIG, for example (
http://www.geocities.com/kenthovind/aig_debunk.html).
--Percy
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