I'm puzzled. Why does this club exist?

I am, as the title of this thread says, puzzled as to why a club for "the evolution discussion" exists. There is an overwhelming scientific consensus both that (a) evolution occurred and (b) the theory of evolution (together with genetics) provides a good explanation of how evolution occurred, certainly in its broad outlines and also in many details (although many details remain unknown, and important mechanisms, like genetic drift, can still sometimes be added to the theory). 

Now, those of us who are not experts are always free to disagree with the overwhelming consensus of experts, but it's generally a bad idea to do so. The overwhelming of the experts *is* the overwhelming consensus of the experts for good reason, and they're the ones who are more likely to be getting it right. 

Would a club like this exist for "the gravity discussion," faux-debating whether or not the orbits of the planets really were gravitationally determined? Would a club like this exist for "the electricity discussion," faux-debating whether or not computers and TVs really ran on electricity? Would a club like this exist for "the supply and demand discussion," faux-debating whether or not economists' law of supply and demand really had validity? Come on. The experts know what they're talking about. Why pretend they don't?

There is no gravity! The Earth just sucks! LOL Not debating you MW LOL

Why do people get 2nd opinions if a doctor tells them something? You act as though there is no reason to debate something if someone else believes it. Can you even prove some of the claims you have just made?

"Why do people get 2nd opinions if a doctor tells them something?"

Because medical diagnosis isn't an exact science & can take expert knowledge & experience. Clinicians sometimes get diagnosis wrong. However, it's an indisputable fact that most diseases are caused by pathogens of one kind or another.

A little over two hundred years ago it was commonly believed that disease was the result of foul air. If such a belief was still held, we'd think it very strange.

Excellent question MW!

As I am sure you are very much aware, there is currently a movement in the United States, and other countries, to have Darwins Theory of Evolution removed from curriculum of public schools.

Two words I do not use lightly, are "promise" or "guarantee." But I am about to use one now.

I GUARANTEE you,  that sticking our heads in the sand, and wishing the problem away, will not result in a positive outcome. 

Make no mistake, Mindwalk. This is a war.

A war fighting for the hearts and minds of our youth. A war, fighting for our very future, and continued existence.

And this war being fought right here, on this very thread. And on similar threads, all across the Internet. 

Our enemy is the enemy of Reason. This enemy is informed, ruthless, and worst of all, motivated.

And unless we are also informed, ruthless, and motivated, this enemy is going to win.

And we will find Western Civilization catapulted right back into the Dark Ages again.

And our society will be once again at the mercy of it's enemies. Just as it was back then.

Many on the religions right consider evolution to be very controversial and a attack on the faith. Elroch has a evolution discussion thread in the public forums but the creationists are not aloud to talk about our thoughts on how the world got here because it involves God. So this club came into existence so we can have a more free discussion. Does that answer your question?

No, no, no. You got it wrong about the darkages. The effect on society has nothing to do with whether it is truth, that being said, creationism is better for society. Evolution teaches that we are animals.  Which makes it ok me me to kill and eat you, I mean why not, we're just animals, no right no wrong, nothing matters. That is where evolution leads

And where does YE Creationism lead?

To mysticism. To superstition. To witch hunts,  inquisitions,  and crusades.

There is no upside whatsoever, to abandoning Reason, in favor of superstition. 

We tried it once. It was called the Dark Ages.

Look it up.

How does YE creationism lead to any of those thing

Because it is not based on Science.

Science is based on evidence. 

Something Young Earthers are very weak on.

You think you have a lock on what occurred millions or billions of years ago,because there is no reason not to trust it. Yet medical diagnosis in the here and now can be wrong!? I think people can be wrong about so much it isn't funny! If all of your so called facts are millions and billions of years ago, or can only be validated through millions or billions of years, those are not facts of any type, not even real evidence. Those are nothing more than just so stories.

What is your best piece of evidence for common decent?

Well MW covered it pretty well, in his first post above.

For me, there is the fossil record.

A record filled with many, many transitional fossils.

Fossils the Evolution Deniers promised we would never, never, never find. Because Evolution is false.

Except we keep right on finding them.

And they always turn up in the exact spots in the geologic ladder, where they should be.

Then there is the fact every species on the planet, has DNA with the same genetic "code." Common Descent would be impossible, if that was not true.

You would need to ask MW on the rest. Is above my pay grade.

So looking at fossils show you all of those lifeforms came through common descent? How would those fossils look if they didn't all come from common descent, what would be different about them?

Mainly because they were all found lying in the right order, in the geologic ladder.

Unicellular organisms predate multicellular organisms.

Plants predate animals.

Exoskeletal predates endoskeletal.

Fish predate amphibians.

Reptiles predate mammal.

And so on.

And so on.

There's hundreds of such relationships. It just cant a coincidence.

And they always date the fossils by the layer. Never the other way around. So nothing circular there.

Then there's all the transitional fossils. Which is the really exciting part.

Did you know over the last 25 years, we have uncovered more than THIRTY different species of feathered dinosaurs?

We have pieced together an almost complete puzzle of how flight evolved, step- by-tiny-step.

And new species being found in other branches well all. Which makes it easy to miss what is happening, if you blink.

Sorry if I come off sounding over-enthusiastic. Like I said, is very exciting stuff.

Something like a rodent fossil dating back to the Cambrian Era or earlier, would be all that is needed to get Evolution thrown out of our schools. 

But those fossils never ever ever ever ever happen!

This is the tightrope Evolution balances on all these years. That is what really impresses me about it I guess.

That's simple enough to understand. It's because a number of diseases have very similar symptoms, so this or that symptom isn't necessarily a precise indicator. And individual clinicians are human & fallible, surely you can grasp that?

But the realisation that disease is caused by pathogens, not foul air or even less, moral laxity, came only after a great deal of methodical research. That's because it isn't intuitive in much the same way that evolution isn't intuitive.

As for abiogenesis, we have no reason to believe that the first lifeform could not have come into existence by entirely natural processes. At this point in time we should certainly resist the temptation to reach for fantastic explanations!

Also, you don't get your second opinion from your next door neighbor the stone mason or from your neighbor down the street the plumber. You get your second opinion from *another doctor*. And if there were a consensus available to you--remember, it's the *broad consensus* of experts that tells you what is most likely true--if you could get the medical community as a whole to diagnose you, then you'd go with the broad consensus of the medical community. Of course, we don't actually get that opportunity. 

Mindwalk

Maybe this post will help answer your question:

The current Coronavirus pandemic the world is experiencing, highlights the dangers inherent in the modern Evolution Denier movement. And other related internet conspiracy theories.

Since the internet came onto the scene, people have used it to propose all kinds of goofy conspiracy theories, for whatever reason.

Of course, the experts always say the theories are wrong. So what to do?

Discredit the experts, of course!

Tell people the experts all have some secret agenda, and are all liars.

And keep repeating that point, over and over and over again. Say it. Say it. And then say it again.

Say it until you are blue in the face. "EXPERTS ARE LIARS!!"

Eventually people will believe you, despite all your shoddy evidence.

Until that one day comes, when the experts are all screaming "Pandemic!! Hundreds of thousands will die, if we don't act now!!"

And nobody acts. Because nobody believes the "liars."

After all, didn't those same experts try to tell me Evolution was real? Or that Climate Change was real? Or that AIDS was real? Or that the Earth was actually round?

If they lied about those things, why should I believe them about this tiny virus, I can't even see?

Except of course, those experts weren't lying about any of those things. And they weren't lying about Coronavirus either.

But no matter. Is a few hundred k lives really such a large price to pay, to convince people Evolution is wrong? Or the Earth is flat?

All humans fail at times but they have successes too. I did most of my adult world as a scientist. Several times when I was working on a problem with no good results. Suddenly a schematic would pop in my brain that was the exact solution, Some would say it was just my brain working. I think it was God inspiring through His Spirit. I've thought up solutions on my own in other cases, There is a difference!