i,m still interested in getting steve to defend his "evolution is true" mantra

Well you see, pete, in spite of Snail's protestations (to which I suspect you've been attaching far too much credence), "evolution is true" is not a mantra. It is a statement of the self-evident. If I say that Mars Bars are sweet, that is not a mantra. It is a self-evident truth that could be denied only by a deluded idiot with no taste buds. Let's suppose that the deluded taste bud-free idiot kept coming on here denying that Mars Bars were sweet, and li'l ol' me was stupid enough to keep posting that Mars Bars were, in fact, sweet. The fact that I had kept on repeating that Mars Bars are sweet would not have turned "Mars Bars are sweet" from a truism into a mantra. It's just me being a parrot because some bloody idiot couldn't see truth even if it reared up and bit him on the bollocks.

Now, pete, you are a man, as we all know, who wouldn't see truth even if it reared up and bit you on the bollocks. The truth of evolution is all around you, but you don't see it because you are in with a bunch of complete clods who have told you that it isn't true. Now I know that your delusion is not your own original idea, because every single time you post about what you think is the science of evolution you get it so dismally wrong that it's clear you haven't a clue what you're talking about. Of course, Snail is going to see this any minute now and probably start with his philosophising again, so, for his benefit and yours, here it is in a nutshell: evolution definitely happens. It cannot be denied, as the evidence for it is so overwhelming. That is not to say that certain aspects of this giant subject can't be modified or added to. But evolution is a natural phenomenon, not science, just as the sweetness of a Mars Bar is. The explanation of how evolution takes place is called the theory of evolution by means of natural selection. That's where the science is, all the evidence, and it's beautiful and elegant and everything discovered since Darwin has added to the story. The science is our way of explaining a phenomenon that is not science, but which is there in nature and always was and which is true. To explain why a Mars Bar is sweet would involve science. We could come up with a theory, supported by lots of evidence to do with the solubility of sucrose and the way it interacts with taste buds and the part of the nervous system linking taste buds to the brain. We could argue about the exact mechanisms involved and do more experiments. But none of that would ever lead to the denial that a Mars Bar is sweet. It is true that a Mars Bar is sweet and only a fool would try to deny it. Evolution is all around you, it's true, and you are a fool because you try to deny it. I should really be in bed. Hope this helps.