tgamble

A class, group, or division whose generic or specific nature or quality is common to all members of the same genus.

For example, a bacterium is not a plant; a plant is not a dog; a dog is not an ape; an ape is not a human being.

An ape is one kind of life. They all share the genus 'ape'.

<a href="http://interact.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/WebX?14@11.TLHhaHwJuqI^1342268@.ee928ef/181" target="_blank">http://interact.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/WebX?14@11.TLHhaHwJuqI^1342268@.ee928ef/181</a>

nogods4me

ok, so are an ostrich and a hummingbird in the same kind? a shark and a dolphin? a bat and a sparrow? a koala and a polar bear?

tgamble

beats me. I don't even understand why "kind" can include an inentrie kingdome in some cases but a single species in others and a genus in others.

Automaton

So my genetic machinery, that supposedly inhibits variations after a certain degree, is a linguist!?

Creationists are the most unbearably stupid morons on the planet.

Kevin Dorner

Without trying to sound like a schoolmarm, that's a bit of a negative generalization...

Many of the U.S. Infidels and members of these forums were YEC's at some point in their lives. When you are carefully shielded by your parents, church, and the people you know from the "wrong" thoughts, starting from a very young age, it becomes very difficult to break out of. I can certainly agree that their ideas are stupid ones (because many of them are so easy to show the logical shortcomings of or their contradiction with observed reality) but it says little about the holder of the ideas because they have been told by people that they trusted all of their lives that they were correct. Luckily, they were able to "deconvert" and it turned out that many of them were intelligent folks, as smart as you or I, underneath all the religious grime accumulated over the years.

It has gotten to the point where Christian fundamentalists in the U.S. have their own satellite-based television system (the Angel network) with many channels, so that it exists as a complete alternative television system replacing broadcast. You can learn "creation science" from it in slickly produced programs and never know it's professionally packaged baloney... you won't see anything on other channels to contradict it (there's no PBS on Angel!) Of course, families such as this will have censored internet access as well so Infidels.org and talkorigins.org are right out... For people brought up in ultra-religious surroundings like this, it's like there are two Americas, two worlds.. the sheltered "inner circle" of the elite and the unsaved masses of everyone else.

Children brought up in these households have been told from a very young age that the KJV is the divinely inspired word of god and if you question it, refute it, treat it as anything but absolute literal truth even in your own mind, god will know, and you will burn in hell forever. Hell was sufficient motivation for Andrea Yates to forsake her maternal instincts and take five of her children's lives. It is always the last and hardest-to-shake remnant of a dying faith.

I hope it doesn't sound like I am singling you out or picking on you; I am just doing this to suggest that we should try to understand why creationists and others cling to worldviews that have been proven incorrect. By doing this, we can avoid the fights and name-calling that plague so many other evolution/creation forums, and improve the discussions here. Thanks for reading my long-windedness.

[ March 29, 2002: Message edited by: Kevin Dorner ]</p>

Automaton

I refuse to believe that someone like the person who posted this gibberish could really be intelligent and thoughtful under their cloak of reality-resistance programming. When you can defy logic so easily and at every turn, there is no way a rational mind could be at the bottom of it all.

tgamble

I agree 100%!

Coragyps

Kevin: Bravo! That post should be required reading for me and for everyone else that argues against creationism on this forum. You have put into words, for the first time I have seen, something that I guess a part of me knew, but the smartass part of me wanted to ignore. Thanks, and maybe there will be a "kinder and gentler" Coragyps in the future. (Well, maybe )