This thread is in danger of becoming very confused as the 'creationists' tie themselves up in spectacular verbal knots.

Hence, I thought that a summary might be useful. There are, basically, two camps:

Camp 1.

People who are persuaded that the observed diversity of life on earth arises as a result of a natural process called evolution. The Theory of Evolution was formulated by two 19th century English scientists - Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace (let's not forget him!) and both of them published books on it, the most influential of these being Darwin's 'On the Origin of Species'.
The Theory of Evolution is supported by a huge amount of evidence accumulated by hundreds (if not thousands) of reputable scientists in over a century and a half. There are many popular works available on the Theory of Evolution - the names of Richard Dawkins and Stephen Jay Gould spring most readily to mind.
As is true of all scientific theories the Theory of Evolution is necessarily incomplete but each new piece of evidence, from fields as diverse as geology and molecular biology, only serves to support it in broad outline.

The Theory of Evolution is politically neutral - although it has been appropriated for political purposes in the recent past - most notably through the wilful misinterpretation of Darwin's phrase, "survival of the fittest". Nevertheless, when interpreted correctly it only serves to strengthen the cases for anti-racism and Green politics.

Camp 2.

The Creationists. These people believe that all life on earth was designed and created 6,000 years ago by an omnipotent, supernatural entity called God. Their only real source of information is a collection of ancient of texts (of unknown authorship) called 'The Bible'. They also believe that the Bible is the work of God because it is stated so inside (a circular argument). They appear to believe implicitly in the word of God because they claim to possess something called 'faith' (which appears to be, among other rather fuzzy things, an unshakeable belief in the supernatural without evidence).

This sect is largely American in origin (with adherents in other parts of the world). Adherents of this sect appear to be dismayed by the persuaiveness of, and overwhelming evidence in support of, the Theory of Evolution - largely, I suspect, because it threatens their power and influence in American Society. They have set up several pseudo-academic institutions which do pseudo-reasearch and publish pseudo-academic papers which seek to bolster 'creationism' and refute the Theory of Evolution.

I happen to believe that this sect, and the American Religious Right, in general, are dangerous and deluded. They are autocratic, doctrinaire, paternalistsic, misogynystic (as one contributor to this thread demonstrated in dramatic fashion above) and have been associated with racism in the past (and I wouldn't be suprised to find that certain elements within this group still are racist). They appear to wield considerable influence within American Society and because America is currently the most powerful society on earth they represent a threat to us all. I oppose them and everything that they stand for!