Has EvC changed your beliefs?

Since joining EvC, I have had to do a bit of research to write posts. I was amazed at how much evidence their is to support the theory of evolution. Before I joined, I thought that the main evidence was a plausibility argument along with a few fossils, and the Linnean classification.I found out that not only was hierarchical classification much more detailed than I had thought, and that the fossil record was also much, much more complete than I had anticipated, but there is a huge amount of detailed evidence in other fields as well that I had never thought of (like retroviral insertions).So, my participation on this board (as well as reading other peoples' posts -- I don't want to dis other people!) has really increased my understanding of the main topic.

Because your post has so much merit, I will impart my nerd-fu secret:I'm a sneak.I figured out how to be a stealth World Grid Agentseed in a corporate environment You ain't seen nuthin' yet.

Me too. The most impressive is the reptile-to-mammal line.I don't understand logic, but I think I picked it up.

EvC has had two effects on me.The first is that it has broadened my knowledge in some fairly disparate areas (either through doing research to argue a point or just so I can follow what one of the experts is saying, or someone using a concept or piece of information I hadn't previously been aware of). More than anything this is why I keeps me coming here.The second is that along with what I've seen in the real world it has changed my view of Christian fundamentalists (or Biblical literalists if you prefer). Until a year or two back my only experience of such people was the programs they put out on Public Access Television when I lived in Texas in the early '90s, and to be honest I thought they were a hoot. I could get hours of entertainment watching them talking about the literal flood or how the creation was 6000 years ago (not forgetting the 'play Stairway To Heaven backwards and hear a message from Satan' chicanery that used to pop up now and again).Of course the people who put shows out on Public Access Television were small-time operators compared to people like Pat Robertson, Jimmy Swaggert, Oral Roberts et al - and I always viewed the big guys as nothing more than very professional con-artists who were bilking gullible people out of a lot of money.However what seems to have happened in the decade+ since I last lived in the States is that the Christian right have come together and joined with the neo-conservatives to form a very powerful and very frightening political force.The result of this is that I have changed my view of the Christian right from being being a source of amusement to something that worries me enormously. Whatever the desires or intent of the Islamic fundamentalists in terms of destroying our way of life I think the unholy alliance of the Christian right and the neo-cons is much more likely to succeed in first subverting and ultimately destroying Western-style democracy.The part EvC has played in this change of view is that I have seen the mindset of the Biblical literalists - they are, to all intents and purposes, immune to any form of argument. They are so convinced of their rightness it astonishes (and disturbs) me. Not only that but the mental contortions they are willing to go through to sustain their beliefs defy belief.There is nobody as dangerous as the person who isn't willing to admit they may be wrong.

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Oops! Wrong Planet

That statement was simply an aside to respond to SN. Most of the message was in response to your OP.

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BUZSAW B 4 U 2 C Y BUZ SAW

yes that's it.

Thanks for such a frank and honest post Jazzns. Respect.

Me too. I should have put that in my post. I've learned more in the last year about bits and bobs that it stagger me.

Cool Buzz, sorry for the misunderstanding

One does try.

I guess this is the really good part? Huh?

Ne'er a truer word said.

see, I was right!!!j/kAt least you have altered it a bit by saying "most christians".

No.TTFN,WK

Jazzns, sorry to have to bring this warning after your POTM nomination, but it has been brought to my attention by members who were insulted by it and I have to agree with them after reading this that this part of your message should have been kept to yourself. I see this as an insult to all Biblical fundamentalists, implicating all members here at EvC who hold to the fundamentals of the Bible; a violation of item 10 of the Forum Guidelines and I hope that in the future you will work to keep the peace and show respect to all members here at EvC. Thanks.