In a bizarre conversation with a coworker once, they insisted (and of course they knew because their parents are doctors) that bacteria don't become resistant to anti-biotics, people's bodies do.
Turned out this was a major point of the anti-evolution stance at his church. I've since encountered the same viewpoint from a number of other people, all going to primarily small, ostensibly non-denominational, churches.
I am happy to base my work on the currently best working scientific models.
My faith is also based on "best practices": what worked well for my parents, grandparents and me and which also happened to help create the western culture we enjoy today.
"Render therefore to Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and to God the things that are God's."
> But you have no evidence that your ancestor's faith worked well.
I am, to a certain degree, that evidence. (Edit: this holds true to some degree even if you look at it from a purely techical POV which makes me smile : )
> Probably the opposite, if you look at any conflicts they were involved in, or what social advances were blocked.
This is meaningless unless you also take into account the advances brought forward because of it.
And, FWIW, you have to cast your net wide and far to find anything real horrific.
This is not to say we are better people than other, but trying to say our faith made us worse than the alternative (warrior tribes as they existed some hundred years ago) seems very wrong.
The point of Creationism (the non-laughable variety, at least) is that some transcendental being designed this Universe with all its fundamental laws and specific constants, including Evolution, with the express intent to have us here, now, in the exact shape we are.
It is not something that can be easily refuted, BTW, nor proven. Which is why it's a matter belonging to faith and not science, for now.
> The point of Creationism (the non-laughable variety, at least)
This is a strawman, as it's quite explicitly not what's being discussed in the parent comment, which specified "created....thousands of years ago" (I assume that kind of creationism is what you're referring to as "laughable").
Yeah, complaining about religious scientists often seems to be an exercise in selectively applying high standards.
There are a lot of atheist scientists that are perfect bayesian reasoners while doing research, but when they step out of the lab they suddenly get as irrational as the rest of the general population. People are way too good at compartmentalizing beliefs.
