Just flip it around as the “hate the sin, love the sinner” saying, but with “stupid” and, um “stup”. That’ll learn ‘em! Learn ‘em good!

I’m not aware of any scientist asserting that if only more humans would breed more with horses, we’d all evolve bigger ding-dongs.

And then Brian said:

Thanks a lot, Ron, for the startling image of Coultergeist

So here you go, Brian. Help evolve the human race. Your filly awaits!

Alcari is correct. We tend to sometimes overlook the immense psychological, emotional, social, and financial investments believers have made in their faith. Most of the ones I know define their self-image through the filter of their beliefs. Any published scientific paper, any blog article, any comments, including this one, have an extraordinarily small chance of ever truly reaching a believer. Whenever they encounter anything contrary to their dogma, they are also reacting to it as if it were a personal attack as well.

In effect, we’re insisting that they go back to the drawing board and re-evaluate who they are as a person in very fundamental ways. They have no wish to sever the social ties they’ve built up over a lifetime, and, most importantly, they don’t want to face the possibility (or probability, from my standpoint) that the major explanatory foundation of their lives is a fantasy. Objectively I can understand this and even sympathize to an extent. When its just a single fundie continuing to delude himself, its one thing. But when the delusion is foisted upon unwilling or unwitting parties, then my compassion disappears.

It’s hard to admit you’re wrong. It’s even harder if you’ve never had to do it, and when you’ve invested so much in it, both emotionally and financially.

It’s much simpler to say the other guy is wrong.

People want to think they can explain everything they see, but they can’t. By coming up with a story, it fills in that empty space in their head and gives them the self-satisfaction that they crave.

Then of course, we tend to stick with a lot of the facts we were taught as children. If we are not taught how to think for ourselves…then we are stuck in the mentality of our supposed intellectual superior and therefore completely at the mercy of whatever they claim to be truth.

I get how their minds work. I just don’t get why.

Philosophers and scientists rejected that claim for over two thousand years.

Hehe, that’s amusing, seeing how there weren’t any scientists two thousand years ago. Most people would say science only started some 400 years ago, and not very well at that.