All,
Basically I agree closely with Joe Meert's views but would
add two comments of things that occur to me.
(1) Given the opportunity and chance to become a dominant
view in the world, the creationists and similar fundamentalist sorts
would shut down in an instant our rights to free expression. Hence,
do we have to provide them with free ammunition to discredit
legitimate science by later misquoting us?
(2) I get MUCH TOO MUCH e-mail every day. If my e-mail pile
starts getting compounded by nonsense creationist arguments, I for
one will have my name taken off what has otherwise been an
interesting List.
C.V. Guidotti
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>Last comment(s) (I promise)!.
>
>(1) We do and will continue to answer legitimate questions put forth on
>this list regardless of who asks.
>(2) In some cases, we may know who is asking and what their motivation
>might be. If this motivation includes the risk of being misquoted and
>misrepresented for political or religious gain, then it is fair to point
>this out. We may not always know when this is the case, but I would
>hope that others would be courteous enough to note when someone's
>motives are less than honest. It also helps to know because in
>answering we can point out the absurdities in known creationist models
>(e.g. those of John Baumgardner).
>(3) While our personal biases may sometimes guide our scientific
>writings, eventually the data win out! This is at the very heart of
>good science and precisely why creationism fails so miserably. We (as
>scientists) may not like and may even resist change, but ultimately we
>are (as a community) compelled to acknowledge a better model.
>Creationism resists change and adopts dogma as a guiding principle.
>
>I promise to stop now!
>
>Cheers
>
>Joe Meert
--
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C.V. GUIDOTTI Univ. Phone
(207) 581 2153
UNIVERSITY OF MAINE Univ. Fax
(207) 581 2202
DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGICAL SCIENCES Home Phone (207) 947 1388
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ORONO, MAINE 04469-5790 E-mail <[log in to unmask]>
U.S.A.
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Crustal Studies at U. Maine
http://www.geology.um.maine.edu/crustal/HM.html/
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"Genius is divine perseverance. Genius I cannot claim, nor even
extra brightness, but perseverance all can have." ---- Woodrow
Wilson, 28th U.S. President
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