We’ll wrap up our story today of our dialogue with another author of a homeschool blog with a decidedly evolutionary point of view. She wasn’t happy that we had made a post dealing with the subject of evolution, and said as much in a post. 

Our position, of course, is that Darwinian evolution is false, and that Biblical creation offers the only sound explanation for the multitude of life on earth.

The title of their post was “New Homeschooling Blog. Blech.” The author indicated that our blog “annoyed” her (hence our title). Brian replied to this post, and it began a series of exchanges that we have been sharing.

We’ve gotten some very interesting and unexpected comments on this series, especially in yesterdays installment. It’s almost funny in a way how the whole thing played out.

It started out like a typical exchange between people who are totally convinced that their position is the truth, and think that the people on the opposite side are total scumbags. OK, just kidding, it wasn’t THAT bad, but it did include some attempts, knowingly or unknowingly, to irritate the other party. It went in both directions, too, so don’t get the impression that the finger is only pointed one way.

One issue that emerged is that creationists generally believe there is an evolutionary bias in the media, universities, and scientific community, and most evolutionists believe there is a creationist bias in the majority of homeschooling science materials, web sites, and the Christian community.

Some homeschoolers even go as far as to describe it as a “conspiracy” by their rivals. So it seems that the evolution vs. creation debate is very contentious and evokes strong emotion in those on both sides of the issue. 

As time went on, it appeared that Brian and Dawn both began to get a better understanding of how and why each side supported their position so vigorously, and were more sympathetic to the perceived bias and frustrations on both sides of the evolution vs. creation issue.

It doesn’t mean that now it’s time to hold hands and sing “Kum Ba Yah”, as Sunniemom quipped. We’re still poles apart in our views on origins, and likely always will be, so don’t break out the warm fuzzy teddy bears and party hats just yet.

But it seemed like the animosity became diminished as time went on and was replaced by at least a sense of, “We may not agree with each other on origins, but we agree that homeschooling is definitely the best option for our children, and we can respect that both sides have strongly held beliefs that they will passionately defend”.

There were even more exchanges that occurred in the dialogue/debate, but we’re going to finish today, with maybe a final analysis tomorrow or Monday to top it off. We hadn’t intended to spend anywhere near this much time on the question of origins,  but it kind of took on a life of its own as it continued, especially in some of the comments that followed the last post. 

It was a unique opportunity to show some of the arguments on both sides of the origins issue, but more importantly, to show that homeschoolers are as diverse in their beliefs as the general population, perhaps even more so, and that evolutionists are just as fervent in their defense of their ideas as creationists are.

And it was also our hope that you may have learned something about how to properly debate a divisive issue. Brian’s only claim to fame is that he squeaked by in a high school debate class he took, and he’s not willing to admit how many years ago that was .

So no, this is not a professional debate clinic. In fact, you may have learned more about how NOT to debate rather than the inverse. But we hope you got a nugget here and there.

OK, let’s get on with it. And then we’ll return to our regularly scheduled programming next week.

Here is the next reply to Brian’s comment from Dawn at Day By Day Discoveries, the evolutionary blog, with the slashes (//) denoting a quote from the comment Brian had made earlier:

“Brian, you’ve read a lot into my post that I never said, for instance that evolution is a default view or worries about you offending people.

It’s simply that you have a blog that looks as if it addresses a very general audience of home schoolers but, in fact, does not. You can choose to make that clear or you can choose not to. But by not making it clear you’re inviting more criticisms like mine. It’s that simple.

//I find it puzzling that someone can claim to be a Christian, and yet believe in evolution. Please show me where in the Bible it talks about evolution.//

There’s a whole world of Christianity out there that is not guided by either an inerrant, literalist view of scripture or a church doctrine of sola scriptura. It would be a good thing for you to investigate that before presuming to ask an Anglican (which I do believe I mentioned) to justify herself by literalist benchmarks.

I hope that when you have a better understanding of the differences in how Christians approach scripture today and throughout history then you’ll understand why your claim of a “Christian world view” is so insulting and presumptuous.

//Your comment that “most likely most of us in fact, don’t subscribe to that belief” (creationism) is probably true for your readership, but certainly not for home schoolers in general.//

That may well be true. The comment was made about Christians, not home schoolers.

And I will not debate evolution with you Brian. I simply don’t have to. If you’re curious about how I arrived at my conclusion on evolution then consult the sources I provided or take a stroll through the biology (and religion as per my former comments on the wider world of Christianity) section of your local library. Whether you take that step is entirely your choice.

Good luck on whatever you choose.

Here is Brian’s reply: 

So if we “have a blog that looks as if it addresses a very general audience of home schoolers” then your conclusion is that we are not allowed to address the evolution vs. creation issue. Nonsense! We can address any issue we feel needs to be addressed.

Your logic on this escapes me. If this were true, then by identifying yourself as an “evolutionary” homeschool blog, you would not be able to write about curriculum, for instance.

Once again, you are implying that evolution is the default position, and that anyone who dares to suggest that evolution is not true has to put a “warning” label on it. Bunk.

You also imply that we are somehow deceiving our readers because we don’t warn them ahead of time that we may discuss evolution vs. creation. Do you warn your readers ahead of time about every possible subject you might discuss?

And again, there is no “neutral” position on this issue. Either you believe that God created all living things as the Bible declares, or you don’t. Whatever your particular world-view may be, it affects all areas of your thinking whether you realize it or not.

We have no choice but to address this issue because of its wide-ranging effects on many areas of life. As I mentioned before, many home schoolers have left the public schools entirely or mainly because of the heavy emphasis on evolution.

We’re not about to duck the controversial issues simply because someone with an opposing viewpoint might be offended. We don’t write on controversial subjects simply to offend anyone, but we’re not about to shirk our responsibility to provide our readers with what we believe to be the truth.

And we certainly don’t feel the need to put some kind of disclaimer on our blog to discuss ANY issue related to homeschooling.

We understand that some who hold the evolutionary viewpoint may be offended by what we write, because it’s only natural to want to defend long-held beliefs. No one likes being told that what they believe may be wrong.

But that doesn’t preclude us from declaring that we firmly and unapologetically believe that creation is the only logical and scientific explanation of origins.

Forgive me for not being familiar with Anglican beliefs, but it sounds like they believe the Bible is NOT inerrant. So when does God start telling us the truth? And how do we know which parts can be trusted and which ones can’t?

Are they saying that the hundreds and hundreds of passages that speak of creation are all parables? I can’t answer for them, so I won’t even try.

It thus appears that some who call themselves Christians would like to pick and choose what they decide to believe from the Bible. This is decidedly NOT our position.

We believe that the ENTIRE Bible is the inspired, infallible word of God, and that God is telling us the whole truth throughout the WHOLE Bible.

Our position is that the Bible can be trusted 100%, but the statements of man cannot always be trusted, because mankind is sinful, myself included.

I know I shouldn’t be so naive, but it still shocks me that some “Christians” don’t even believe what the Bible says unless it fits their pre-conceived notions. The pronouncements of evolutionists or liberal theologians apparently trump the word of God for these folks.

I can’t possibly hope to change anyone’s view on the Bible–only God can. Nor can you change my views. So for now, it looks as if we’ll just have to agree to disagree on this issue.

Finally, you still hold fast to your belief in evolution, yet can’t defend your position with evidence. I already KNOW how you arrived at your conclusion on evolution. I’m quite familiar with all the arguments and rhetoric, as I’m a public school and university grad myself.

What is lacking is real scientifically valid evidence, and it appears I won’t be getting any of it from you. Your comment “And I will not debate evolution with you Brian. I simply don’t have to” is very telling.

The claim that evolution is settled scientific fact and doesn’t need to be discussed is merely a smokescreen for the severe lack of evidence supporting it, and a denial of the large body of evidence indicating evolution is false.

I’m not trying to be difficult, but I only think that it’s fair that anyone should provide a solid argument for their position before they claim that our views on creation are false or misleading, and that we need to put a disclaimer or warning on our blog.

If anything, I’m trying to get you and everyone else who reads to THINK about why it is they believe what they believe. ‘If you whole-heartedly believed something that was in reality false, would you want to know about it?’ This is a not a trifling matter”.

OK, we’ll end here without comment. But we certainly do appreciate YOUR comments.