"they all evolved from a simple wheel and progressed up the evolutionary pathway and eventually took to the air!"

With respect, this example is so far from being analogous to the process of evolution it's ludicrous.


"but alternately you could [maybe] provide actual evidence of the [continuously changing] theory which you assert is evidenced."

I suspect I could spend the rest of my life trying to convince you, with little success and I have work to do. However, were you seriously interested in getting to grips with the other side of the argument a good place to start is the OU course Evolution (S366).

"full marks though for enthusiastically promoting what you believe the evidence shows you"

Thanks. I did look on creation.com at the evolution-debunking pdf, but once more it's wrong on so many levels it would take an age to unknit the whole thing, and in reality it's displays the fundamental philosophical difference that means that creationism is too extreme a view for science to discuss as we disagree on how the question of earth's origins can even be addressed.

"non-believers' love of church rituals"

I'm not sure I'm an atheists as such, as I believe their could be a scientifically explicable intelligence that could be indistinguishable from what some people might call 'god'. It could be so utterly powerful that it might be able to manipulate matter and time at a cosmic level. That's not say I believe in an afterlife (I don't). At the very least we are the universe made conscious, I'm not sure any religion has come up with a concept as profound and wonderful as that.

Why is this relevant? Because I wonder if our desire for ritual (which I think is important) is part of us recognising the indifference of the universe to our suffering and desiring to impose some order in order to make existence bearable. I strongly believe the rituals of religions allow us to reflect on the way our lives are to a large degree outside our control and seasonal rituals highlight various issues we face as part of simply being alive. A lack of ritual in secular life is perhaps why we choose to fill the void with the sort of vacuous crap that passes for entertainment and instruction these days.