Penny S and Smokey,

I appreciate your comments. Smokey, I've been regretting using the term "straw man" all day. I am truly sorry I used it because it could have been taken as implying dishonesty on your part. That was not my intention at all. That is not what I think. What I should have said is this: "I've got my hands full explaining what Young Earth Creationists actually think. I can't also take time to explain what they might think, but don't really think. They don't think that the universe was created Monday. If you know anyone who thinks it was, ask him about it. I know no one who thinks that. I don't think it. It is not consistent with what I think and hope I know about God."

Penny S, I respectfully disagree that a "backstory" in someone's creation raises a question of honesty. As long as the creator makes it clear when the "artifact" and the "idea" begin to coincide, the creator is being honest. When MOBY DICK begins, Captain Ahab has already lost his leg. Is this dishonest? Did honesty require that, before MOBY DICK was written, Herman Mellville should first have written DUDE, WHERE"S MY LEG?

Kent