[djmcmath]

Good point, Todd. I'm mostly meaning fundamentalist evolutionists, who start with the premise that there is no God, so Creation is out the window, then find themselves hunting around for a halfway plausible explanation in the vacuum. The teaching you actually see in public schools generally typifies this belief, though rather than coming out and announcing "There is no God," they merely teach Atheism as a basic assumption for Evolution. I suppose it's theoretically possible to separate the ideas of evolution from the religious foundation (or areligious?) that it's built on.

As to teaching a multi-billion year old earth as scientific fact, well, I have a hard time grappling with that. The best argument for a multi-billion year old earth is that the evolutionary process required billions of years to happen. The radioisotope dating techniques that most normal people use to base ancient earth claims on are based on some assumptions that aren't necessarily true. When you actually sit down and think about it, the ancient earth argument falls apart in the face of real data -- which makes it no more scientific than the so-called "Genesis fairy tale."

There are definitely some commonalities among many living things. That's certainly valid, and clearly falls under science. Further, micro-evolution, as Darwin observed, clearly happens -- this observation, too, falls under "science." However, to make the logical extension of these ideas to say that all living things evolved from a pool of primordial soup is a leap that makes belief in God look positively easy. Take a look at the haphazard fossil record, the plaster-casts of "missing links" that have been manufactured, the desperate attempts over the history of evolution to continue to keep the idea viable, despite mounting evidence to the contrary ... it should be clear, by this point in history, that evolution doesn't make any sense, yet people -- even intelligent people -- continue to ignore the data and espouse a failed idea. It's easier to reject God and believe a theory that has no real support than it is to accept his rule over your life.

(sigh)

Dan