Evidence, what evidence?

I'm not really one for respecting the view that religious beliefs should not be challenged. It seems to me that people with strong religious beliefs should relish the chance to debate their faith. If their beliefs have value, they should be able to withstand inspection and discussion. Instead, we are encouraged not to question people's religious beliefs, it's simply not on old chap. I'm afraid I decline to be encouraged to desist. It isn't my intention to cause offence, but if you are offended by such things I recommend you just skip the rest of this post. If you've chosen to read on, you might like to consider my position that of the Devil's Advocate. Oh dear.

Anyway, I've decided not to poke any more fun at the Intelligent Design theory*. Instead, let's have a look at a much bigger target: cretinists (not sure you've spelled that correctly, Ed.).

Creationists already have the Truth; the earth was created roughly 6,000 years ago#. Evolutionists wish to construct their own truth; the earth formed slowly over billions of years. Both of these are subject to the same scientific method. When we observe the outpourings of data rendered from the science, we can see that the evidence greatly supports the idea of a young-earth (6,000 years old).

# These figures are found by adding up the genealogies found in scripture, and by Jesus' teachings of man's history.

That's incredible. Yes, it's true, our scientists are lying to us. It seems that all the evidence which demonstrates that the earth is billions of years old is a part of a conspiracy created by godless liberal scientists, possibly in league with ol' forkie tail himself, in order to deny us the love of our Lord.

This isn't a spoof website. These people genuinely do believe that the earth is about 6,000 years old. Sadly, they might well be beyond redemption, (if I may borrow a phrase).

The site does have one interesting little spoofy trick up it's sleeve though. There's a random testimony in the left column of the main page. At first glance it seems quite amusing. Look, they've got someone telling them how ridiculous they are, what a giggle. It looks reasonable enough until you click continue and try to read the comment in full. Not easy, is it? I don't know if it's a genuine comment, I'm sure some might think it's actually been written by the site owners, but it has clearly been selected/written with the intention of portraying the site's critics in the worst possible light. It's a clever trick. I bet a fair few bloggers have been suckered into supporting the short version of the comment, only to have the long version produced by the sites authors as proof of the bloggers astonishing lack of judgement. As I said, clever. Not really very Christian though, is it?

There's a serious side to this, of course. Many children are being brought up to believe this stuff, and I don't think that's at all a good thing. In the UK, the Vardy Foundation seems particulary keen on brainwashing the next generation with this nonsense. I wonder if they also teach Flying Spaghetti Monsterism?

*For the duration of this post only.

Update
There's a quotation from Sophia Loren in today's P&J in which she explains the cause of her continued health and vitality.

A love of life, spaghetti, and the odd bath in virgin olive oil. Everything I have I owe to spaghetti.

Conclusive proof, I'm sure you'll agree, of the wonderous power of the FSM.