At least Wolfgang's acquaintance doesn't resort to tantrums if the teeniest doubt is expressed as to the validity of his experiment of hypothesis.

As a former geologist, I made the mistake once of entering into a debate on sci.geo.geology. I pointed out mildly that a Creationist's argument that a certain geological formation was proof of the Old Testament flood, was incorrect since the "evidence" could support many other interpretations. I was quite startled at the number of poster who pounced on my rejoinder and the venom which which they posted.

The usual Creationist tactics in an argument can be summarised as follows:

1. Scientists postulate that the Earth is round.

2. It can be clearly demonstrated that the Earth is not round. There are hills and valleys, mountains and oceans which mar its perfect sphericity. In any case, scientists themselves admit that the Earth is flattened at the poles and bulged at the equator, by a matter of a few centimeters.

3. Since the Earth is not round, it must be flat.

4. This is absolute proof of the doctrine that the Earth is flat.

5. Scientists, and anybody supporting the fallacious theory that the Earth is not flat, are liars, frauds and charlatans.

6. Since all scientists are liars, frauds and charlatans, anything they put forward which contradicts anything we believe in, is necessarily a falsehood.


The Creationists are not the only ones to use such tactics on arguments. There are some "expanding Earth" theorists, who maintain that the Earth was once a ball only a third its present size with all the continents present but not the oceans. (This theory requires adjustment to the theories of Conservation of Matter, or a change in the gravitational constant or speed of light over time, but any attempt to point this out results in a flood of abuse.) And one poster convinced that bits and pieces he has found in an abandoned mine in Pennsylvania proves that man is as old as coal. (He does not explain where man has been in all the intervening geological ages.)


I have long since given up entering such arguments.