Why am I still talking here? I guess because there's conversation at the moment. Maybe some others will pick up some points in the other forum. And I might have to carry through with my promise to Russ to sit through 10 minutes of creationist claims about the solar system.

I do hope that all discussions there can simply focus on the evidence, or lack thereof. I'd really like to meet a creationist, anywhere, who is willing to try to rebut scientific evidence with their own. If anything was going to make me lose interest, it's probably what is happening there now: only one creationist to talk with most of the time, who only seems to be there to stick a finger up, because he appears to be out of other options.

Things don't revert to insults with me. That tends to happen along with the above -- when someone feels they have no other options. Something along the lines of, "Yeah whatever, but you're just dumb anyway/you're going to hell/I know the truth no matter what you say." But definitely, if debating upsets you, then don't do it. There's certainly no obligation.

Do I think I'm going to convince anyone? Maybe the best I can hope for is that they at least become willing to examine their own position a little more deeply. And I enjoy learning from it and keeping my brain working. I read people's links and I research my own.

What it boils down to on this thread, for me, is a desire to accurately represent science here. If I see inaccuracies anywhere, I like to correct them if it can be done tactfully (and if there seems to be a need). Comes from years of teaching maybe, though I also just have a strong passion for getting at truth.