Hi folks.
I'm obviously new here, but I have an interesting problem issue here: My wife is very religious, and I am the exact opposite. Her church is having Dr. Tommy Mitchell from AiG come speak on the 23rd (Aug.), and I plan to attend to see what information he's spreading around.
I feel a need to be armed with some evidence that can either contradict or further explain what he brings up in order to show that, while isolated instances or incomplete data may support a faith-based belief as to how the universe (and everything else) was created (and in what order), it's not the whole picture nor the correct one.
Are there any known links or informative publications I can look at in order to accomplish my goal?
Please don't misinterpret my intentions--I have no issue with my wife feeling a need to believe in God and Christianity in order for her to feel like she has good moral guidance in her life, but when irrational misinformation starts permeating her thinking concerning provable/supportable laws/theories in the world, I start worrying about what else she may throw away in support of irrational, based-on-faith misinformation.
Thanks for any help.
Talk Origins is useful for answering AiG:
http://www.talkorigins.org/
From a :hail:
You'll need a working knowledge of the history of the universe, the process of biological evolution, radiometric dating, a list of logical fallacies (especially the "god of the gaps" fallacy), and be familiar with the complete lies and half truths you're going to be faced with. That should cover your bases.
Quote from: "Sophus"Talk Origins is useful for answering AiG:
http://www.talkorigins.org/
From a :hail:
Thanks...I had already been on talkorigins.org for about 2 hours this afternoon, and it's some good info. I'll check out the other two...I appreciate it. I had done a search, but talkorigins was the first hit and stole all of my time.
Quote from: "Will"You'll need a working knowledge of the history of the universe, the process of biological evolution, radiometric dating, a list of logical fallacies (especially the "god of the gaps" fallacy), and be familiar with the complete lies and half truths you're going to be faced with. That should cover your bases.
Luckily, I'm pretty on-the-ball with the history-of-the-universe theories, I'm semi-knowledgeable concerning biological evolution, read a little C14 dating, but not much else. I'll be okay, because I'm only worried about showing the opposing science to my wife after the fact...I don't plan on disrupting the church with too many questions. I'm worried about my wife first, then I can worry about other folks out there.
I do plan on jotting down things as he says them that make no logical sense, or things purported as fact that are not. That'll help me set those points straight, and I may be on here afterwards to see the forum's thoughts.
Thanks for your reply as well.
One interesting thing Richard Dawkins brings up in one of his books is about ring species, these are species such as the salamanda in California where on one plateau you have one species and on another you have a different species, but if you walk around you can see all the intermediates between the two species, so you have happening here in space what has been happening with every species in time.
All the best
Chris