quote of the day...week...month...
Mike the Mad Biologist said something truly magnificent during a Boston Skeptics meeting (h/t: PZ Myers at Pharyngula):
Last night, I concluded my talk with a quote from Dover, PA creationist school board member William Buckingham, who declared, "Two thousand years ago someone died on a cross. Can't someone take a stand for him?"My response was, "In the last two minutes, someone died from a bacterial infection. We take a stand for him."
This is how I think we need to argue. We need to put creationists on the defensive by arguing, part of the time, on behalf of the utility of evolutionary biology. Doing genomics without evolutionary biology is like drilling for oil with a dowser. Force creationists to defend the morality of their position.
That was, quite simply, a brilliant response!
We need to remind everyone that while ignorance is free, its cost is incalculable. The questions not asked, experiments not performed, treatments not tested, and technologies not developed (through whatever form of intellectual intimidation) can scarcely be estimated.