Laura,

I apologised for what I said about Russ regarding his beliefs and I said I would not allude to the subject again if I could not find the conversation I was remembering.

I also could not find a very long post that I had written in the summer. What assumption could I logically make? This forum is run by a creationist. I thought he must have deleted it. When the post was found, again I apologised, and gained some respect for Russ. You must realise that for much of the time I have been the only evolutionist talking here and from my point of view that often makes this a hostile environment. Why would I not conclude that my post had been deleted if I genuinely could not find it?

Speaking of a hostile environment, this comment:


was in response to the locked threads, which are there if you look -- a whole series of them. Try putting yourself in the other person's shoes. You belong to a forum where the residents are mostly evolutionists whose sole aim is to tell you how wrong you are. A few other creationists turn up to help you make your own points. Then the forum owner starts posting locked threads about evolution -- which you might have a lot to say about, but which you are banned from replying to.

I apologise for the emotion in the above statement and will try to keep a better lid on it in future (I am not very well and sometimes this is difficult). Why else, though, would those threads be locked? Presumably the answer is that Russ is tired of evolutionists criticising.

I make no apologies whatsoever about Hovind and I'm happy to tell anyone what an idiot and a fraud he is -- because it's the truth. And I've given evidence for that. He is not a member of this forum. Surely you must realise that most other evolutionists who have heard of him, think the same. He hasn't got any scientific credentials and he doesn't know what he's talking about. He thinks that the sun burns by combustion and I could give you his own quotes to that effect. That is the tip of the iceberg as far as his scientific ignorance is concerned.

Let's draw the line between debate like this which includes public figures like him -- we could equally be debating Darwin or Gould or whoever -- and personal remarks. I think some people here don't like what I am saying about creationism and its proponents, and that is being lumped together with other perceived insults.

I honestly was not intending to spend much more time here as it is, and haven't posted much recently. These sorts of debates do get heated at times and I'm not sure much good comes of it when both sides are entrenched. For my part I will make an extra effort to give Russ the benefit of the doubt and to refrain from making assumptions about his actions. Some of his beliefs are very offensive to me but no doubt he feels the same about me, and hopefully we can avoid focusing on that. I do appreciate the fact that the mercury forum is here and it is one of the best forums of its kind on the internet.