quote:
I also want to point out that it is highly unreasonable to say that creationist are biased. I am not denying that they are, or that they do not push with too much zeal to find evidence for their beliefs. All I am saying is that we all do that.
There is a significant difference.
If a scientist falsifies or blatantly misinterprets data their reputation is shot. No more academic appointments, no more grant money, no more publications in peer reviewed journals, no more respect. They become ostracised by the scientific community.
If a YEC falsifies or blatantly misrepresents data their reputation and therefore conclusions are not to be questioned by anyone lest one be guilty of an ad hominem attack. Future appointments in various YEC organizations remain a possibility, indeed perhaps even a likelihood. Whatever publications such a YEC has made, will be cited without refutation, or indeed critical analysis, in obviously biased sources, and by other YECs, evidently for eternity. They become heroes to the YEC community.
The case of Setterfield, who evidently is now making his living speaking to approving crowds of YEC enthusiasts, is another example of the above. This is despite the weak and shamefully buried criticisms of his work by both ICR and AIG, who evidently lack the intestinal fortitude to match the stringent moral code of the scientific community.
This is also an example of the relative rather than absolute standards of honesty and professional integrity so often applied by the YEC community when dealing with one of their own instead of those who disagree.