> Glenn Morton wrote:
>
>> I have an idea. Why don't you invite Steve [Austin] to this forum to
>> debate the geological points with Steve Schimmrich and I? I would
>> suggest that you extend the invite so he doesn't feel threatened. It
>> has always struck me as odd that the leaders in the C/E field always
>> seem to avoid forums like this. They almost never post anything so
>> it can be publically critiqued. This does not give a good
>> appearance. Go look at the more scientific forums in Usenet and you
>> will find all sorts of authors and leaders in their field. Hubert
>> Yockey has posted to Talk.Origins. But the YEC leaders never leave
>> controlled environments.
>
> Is the GSA annual meeting a controlled environment?
Yes, but when did he ever explicitly present flood geology or young-earth
arguments at a GSA meeting?
> The last time I talked with Steve, a few weeks ago, he didn't use
> the Internet, and has no plans to start any time soon. Given the
> exceedingly ephemeral nature of most of what appears on Usenet
> news groups -- grandstanding, hairsplitting, abuse, ridicule,
> sheer lunacy -- I can't say that I blame Steve. Talk.origins,
> for instance, is a repetitious stream of tedium and rubbish broken
> by the rare insightful or informative post.
Fair enough. Perhaps Steve Austin would be willing to debate his ideas
at national GSA? Perhaps the Affiliation of Christian Geologists (which
I belong to and which is affiliated with the ASA) could help set something up
for 1997 in Salt Lake City? He'd be talking to real geologists then without
the problems of an Internet forum.
>> I would suggest that if Steve is worried about his time, that we
>> limit it to a 3 or 4 week debate. That way it is long enough to have
>> substance but not so long as to tie Steve up for a long time.
>>
>> Will he do it? I doubt it very seriously.
>
> So do I, but not for what I'm guessing are the reasons you would offer.
> "Waste of time," rather, springs to mind. For those who want to ask Steve
> about his books or articles, he's only a first class stamp away.
My personal opinion is that many in the YEC movement have no interest in
convincing scientists, even those who are Christians, but rather in convincing
the Christian public (who usually are in no position to evaluate the
arguments).
- Steve.
-- Steven H. Schimmrich KB9LCG s-schim@uiuc.edu Department of Geology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 245 Natural History Building, Urbana, IL 61801 (217) 244-1246 http://www.uiuc.edu/ph/www/s-schim Fides quaerens intellectum