Originally posted by Rambam99:
My main ire is reserved for the distinction between fact and theory. e.g. consider the following statement: "Man evolved from apes over millions of years." No matter how hard anyone tries to spin it, this is NOT a fact.
It's not? A serious question. The linkage from ape (or whatever non-human primate) to human is progressing (or evolving) and getting stronger over time, is it not? Now, that doesn't make it a "fact", but are you burying your head in the sand? And why, for religious reasons? Because to do otherwise conflicts with what you believe? Your wife believes?
Not to unfairly drag her into this but I have a point. You have previously mentioned that she has essentially selected a very conservative, creationist church. Iirc, you have also posited that God placed (or could have placed) fossils/bones etc. in the ground and made it appear that those items are millions of years old. In other words, about 6,000 years ago God planted various items and through His miracles made them seem to be 100's of millions of years old. That is only meant as an attempt to accurately repeat what you have written; it is not meant to be some sort of sarcastic ploy.
Now, what really interests me (and there is no hope of getting to the bottom of this well) is how have these intra-family religious dynamics reshaped and reformed (or shaped and formed, take your pick) your views on both science and religion? I would imagine that for you to hold an "evolutionist" view would create possible conflict with your spouse and cognitive dissonance within yourself.
I don't recall if you have children (nor is it any of my business) but children, especially young children, would play a quite likely very strong role here. A desire to instruct them in basic Christian principles would almost necessarily demand a more literal approach to Bible story telling because young children are simply not capable of distinguishing myth from fact from metaphor. And as psychology has shown us, we tend to believe what we say, i.e., our beliefs may stem from what we say. So if we repeat the creation myth to our children, or perhaps even reinforce what they have learned in their religious instruction classes, we adults may find ourselves believing in a more literal approach to the bible.
And then there's the whole security of fitting in with others and maybe even the family is enjoying the aura of religious sanctity that comes from all this. Hence it is quite easy to see how evolution, in this context, now becomes the antithesis of what is taught in the Bible, thus evil, and how one know chooses to focus on things like "fact" vs. "it's just a theory".
In conclusion, I find possible psychological factors playing a part in what would drive a heretofore very rational, logical poster to make some elementary arguments (mistakes?) in refuting the validity of evolution.
Thus bringing up a continually fascinating topic for me: why do people allow their religious views (be it Christian, Muslim, Hindu, etc.) to affect their acceptance of science? I can't help but think that the supreme being, wherever She may be, must be shaking Her head in wonder why some people intentionally turn away from learning about Her (and our) world and how it was made and how we got here? Somehow I don't think the answer of adherence to the accepted religious text of our time/culture is a good answer when it comes to ignoring science.