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Index to Creationist Claims,  edited by Mark Isaak,    Copyright © 2004
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Claim CA012:

Anticreationist complaints are a form of snobbery. There are many more important traits on which to judge people than whether they believe in evolution.

Source:

Derbyshire, John, 2003. Pseudoscience vs. snobbery: A Doonesbury lesson. National Review Online (Apr. 22), http://www.nationalreview.com/derbyshire/derbyshire042203.asp

Response:

  1. Most anticreationists would be content to let creationists believe as they wish and not make an issue of it. However, creationists make creationism an important trait. They make a huge deal of it and want to impose it on others. If creationists did not believe that it is one of the most important traits on which to judge people, the creationism-evolution dispute would not exist.

  2. The complaint of snobbery is based on the attitude that all opinions are equal. Although that attitude sounds democratic and fair, it is indefensible. Opinions have value to the extent that they are informed. If you are suffering serious stomach problems, would you give equal weight to opinions from a professional gastroenterologist and a supermarket bag-boy? When someone speaking on the subject of evolution is woefully uninformed on issues concerning evolution, it is entirely appropriate to point that out. And the claims made by creationists show that almost all of them are woefully ignorant of evolution. There are exceptions (Kurt Wise, for example), but they are very few.

  3. The resolution of creationism as a scientific proposition rests on what the facts indicate, and facts are not determined by the personalities of the people who talk about them. Creationists are free to avoid this issue entirely by approaching creationism as an entirely unscientific religious viewpoint, but they have chosen not to do so.

  4. Many creationists have a literally holier-than-thou attitude. For example, they (falsely) claim that believers of evolution are atheistic and evil. You cannot get any more snobbish or elitist than that.

Further Reading:

Sonnert, Gerhard, 2002. Ivory Bridges: Connecting Science and Society, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
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created 2003-6-25