Egan, some interesting points here. Thank you. Yes, it's good to have a discussion where someone does not end up quotinvg their scripture at you as a way of justifying what they say -- though this must be difficult for a lot of religious people, because they do and think what their scripture tells them, and go no further in their thoughts than, "This is what God says, so it is so."

Bex, there are some genetic differences between us and chimps, but they are small. It only takes a few small alterations in the genetic code to produce large physical differences. We're learning more about this all the time. Why are we actually different from chimps? Because we evolved from a common ancestor.

So do creationists just lump all archaeologists together and say they're part of some vast conspiracy? I've been interested in archaeology all my life. My husband and I know archaeologists. They are intelligent people who love to learn and discover, they are not part of some massive movement to delude everyone.

Is radio carbon dating wrong then? How are we so grossly mistaken about the half-life of radioactive isotopes? This is a fact, same as the earth revolves around the sun. Is someone going to come here and claim that that isn't a fact either? It was the church that opposed Copernicus when he promoted the idea, because it threatened their comfortable idea of God's people being at the centre of the universe. Eventually they decided it was silly to oppose obvious fact, and they worked it into their belief system. I don't see anyone around today insisting the earth is flat and at the centre of the universe, because that's what their religion tells them and thus it must be so.