True, but the Puritans didn't come here from England. They left England and went to live with the Dutch, who were much more tolerant of religious groups. The Puritans thought they'd be fine, but they noticed their children playing with kids who didn't believe like they did and became concerned they were being "tainted" and so set out for the new world with the intent of starting their own country that would be a Puritan one.
My private hypothesis, with no evidence, is that the strength of American conservatism is related to this strong puritan heritage. We simply don't have the same thing over here in the UK.
Re ground rules, the possibility of error is assumed among scientists, but it is not assumed by non-scientists and they tend to interpret scientific statements as definitely true('scientifically proven'). So I think when debating with non-scientists this assumption needs to be made explicit.
In fact in my experience, some YECs get really annoyed when I tell them that science is not able to prove its theories are true.
Edited by Richard Townsend, : No reason given.
Edited by Richard Townsend, : No reason given.