Bex, I note that you again said above, "you weren't there." So do you also believe that forensic detectives should be put out of a job, and that a court case without eyewitnesses should be thrown out? Or does detective work only not count when the detectives are archaeologists?

I have no need to force any facts to fit preconceived ideas, though it seems to be a creationist's raison d'etre to make out as if I and other evolutionists have some desperate need to protect my beliefs and therefore will lie about them as necessary. Some others with alternative "beliefs" may do this, but I assure you all I do is look at the facts and follow where they lead. You know I've done that with mercury and alternative medicine. If I have to say that I think the evidence points to many people being wrong, I will, but I don't see it here. I've learned too much about science over the years and I've seen too much of the evidence for myself.

The information is everywhere to be found. As an example, here is what the fossil record shows for the evolution of humans. These species and sub-species were put in these places on the chart because the fossils and the rocks in which they were found have been dated at those ages. The same site explains, for example, that "with more powerful geological dating methods based on fluctuations in the earth's magnetic field or electron spin resonance, the earliest Homo erectus fossils from China have been dated to 1.9 million years ago." If we found an australopithecus fossil unambiguously buried in a recent layer of rock, that would indeed be a find to shake the world. Yet consistently, these fossils are found sorted according to the order in the chart. You could find a similar chart for many different kinds of organisms.

Scientists the world over compare their findings -- have done for over 200 years -- and they consistently agree to a remarkable extent. A creationist either needs to furnish solid proof that they are all mistaken, or lying. It always seems to boil down to this doesn't it -- the evidence is irrefutable so it must somehow be a tissue of lies, a conspiracy on the grandest scale imaginable. Do you honestly think that is a likely possibility?