What is Christianity?

And as freethinkers, we prefer cons that are evidence-based and generate testable predictions.

That's why we still believe the Sun orbits the Earth, right?Whether we're talking about science in the lab or natural history, we're still talking about theories that arrange and interpret data. Geochronology and biostratigraphy aren't "voodoo," they depend on reasonable assumptions and consistent methodology the same way lab research does.Welcome to EvC.

How would observations such as the Sun appearing to move across the sky disprove quite easily the notion that the Sun orbits the Earth?You're making a distinction between "observational" and "historical" science that doesn't exist. Any scientific theory is a framework for interpreting and understanding data, regardless of the type of data.

That's not true in the least. You're pretending that data and observations arrange and interpret themselves, which is fantasy. We need a unifying theory to explain observations, whether we're talking about data recorded by astronomers, paleontologists, or molecular biologists. There's no such thing as theory-free science, or self-validating "operation science."What you're really talking about is the way we as a culture relate to scientific knowledge. Certainly the matter of Darwinian evolution is one that we relate to on a lot of different levels: scientific, social, psychological, and cultural. If you want to study further the ways that Darwinism has been interpreted and misinterpreted throughout the life of the idea, you should read Ever Since Darwin by Stephen Jay Gould.