Why we should not expect many if any Creationists

I find it amazing that there have been any Creationists at EvC for at least a decade and honestly there is no longer any reason to expect Creationists to come here.The issue is settled.Young Earth is dead; it has been totally and completely refuted.Old Earth Creationism is simply unsupportable and has been for many decades.Creationists know this. That is why the trend in "Biblical Christianity" and the Christian Cult of Ignorance has been separation, avoidance and isolation for over a quarter century now,They have their own school systems, their own colleges, their own accreditation boards, their own TV and radio stations and networks, their own browsers that filter out any ideas that might disagree with their own propaganda.The product they try to market simply cannot compete in the world of reality and ideas.If EvC is to continue it will likely need to change its focus to some other area where there are still open and not yet settled questions.

Or possibly some brainstorming on how to get rid of religion. We cant have people blowing themselves up everytime someone seas the image of their messias on the brown stain of his underpants.

People blow stuff up for lots of reasons other than religion.They're rioting in Africa / They're starving in Spain / There's hurricanes in Florida and Texas needs rain / The whole world is festering with unhappy soulsEdited by jar, : hit wrong key

Hi, Frako. You might be conflating a few different things there. In all fairness, most religions do a lot to manage and prevent this kind of insanity. There will always be the minority who are galvanized into something fundamentally insane by it, but that's far from the normal outcome of religious influence.

I would have to disagree. While I find it amazing that there is still such a thing as a Creationist, the original logic of having a balanced and legitimate platform for debate about the topic is still as valid as it ever was.There must be some other dynamic at work that keeps them away as there is no shortage of them out there.

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According to a 2007 Gallup poll, about 43% of Americans believe that "God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so."

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sourceIn depth debate is a bit of a niche thing and it stands to reason that most who identify as a Creationist would not be predisposed to examining their beliefs in depth.

And that is the answer.Creationism is a belief that cannot stand examination and that is exactly what drives the avoidance syndrome.

The last few new ones who showed up here only stayed for a few posts. As soon as their first pratts were sunk they faded into the background.Faith just repeats her arguments and gets pissed and ducks out for a while. We all know her material so there isn't much to talk about.

I can agree with your assessment regarding Biblical Creationists. I see myself as a Cosmological Creationist. I believe that God initially created everything.The jury is still out on how He initially did it.That being said, I would think that a creationist by definition must believe in a Creator.AbE: Not to suggest that I don't see biological evolution as a definite probability, given what we know and how we can support the science. Edited by Phat, : add by edit

There may not be a shortage of people who believe in a Creator but there's a definite shortage of creationists who can make a cogent argument. Henry Morris spoon-fed creationists with cheap paperbacks, then the likes of Ham and Hovind spoon-fed them with videotapes and then with the Internet. But the Internet backfired on them because it's so easy to shoot down stupid arguments. Unless a new medium comes along, we're unlikely to see stupid arguments spewed as loudly as in the past.

The fundamental reason for such a situation is that Creationism is false. The rules of this forum don't really support the use of any of the usual techniques for arguing without evidence and/or solid argument, so we really should not be surprised that most of the creationists arguing put up junk stuff. What else is there for them?A second fundamental problem is that by and large, the debaters we get here don't know much science. There have been some rare exceptions where the knowledge of science was impressive, but those exceptions are so rare that each such instance has been memorable. More often we get one trick ponies with a single PRATT who have to leave after making no headway here.

I expect that most Internet users have moved to social media and that bulletin board use is down generally everywhere. People used to troll the Internet for something to do and bulletin boards used to be a popular destination - now social media takes up all their time with texts and tweets and images and comments and Words with Friends.I just spent a few minutes at the NCSE Facebook page. Facebook members can add comments after each item, and there are also visitor posts, but I didn't see anything that looked like a discussion. The link to NCSC is tiny but findable near the top left, but their website has no bulletin board that I could see.A search for creation/evolution discussion boards didn't turn up anything - there used to quite a few. I used to keep a list a while back, but the links don't work now. Evolution Fairy Tale is still out there, but their activity level also appears diminished. The nature of the Internet is changing.--Percy

It's not the internet that's changed but rather the population. There is nothing inherent in Social Media that would prevent discussions, instead it is the people themselves who simply don't discuss and debate. It seems to be a willful craving for confirmation bias most evident in the "Selfie".

The Internet is certainly a much different place than before Facebook and Twitter and the rest, and people don't change. Certainly the demographics of the Internet have changed as it's become far less the realm of those of a technical bent and more that of, well, everyone. Evidently most people find social media a more engrossing diversion than they did bulletin boards. This seems a "creation versus evolution" specific observation, but it isn't just the creation versus evolution debate that is diminished. Discussion and interactions on all topics, controversial or informational or whatever, is diminisihed across the entire Internet. The democratization of the Internet has shifted the center of gravity onto social media.--Percy

The whole characteristic of "Social Media" is simply a reflection of what the people want.It is just more evidence in support of my point.Social Media is just another avoidance mechanism; a way to avoid anything you wish to hide from, like reality.

You may be right. I've argued a number of unpopular positions, so I'm not afraid to be in the minority, but I've never been able to figure out how to argue a case that's factually false.