I'm starting to prepare a new page for my Creation/Evolution site at
http://cre-ev.dwise1.net/ . Its theme will be something to the effect of "statements a creationist should avoid since they immediately reveal that he doesn't know what he is talking about." A few candidates are "why are there still monkeys?", "but they're STILL MOTHS!", and "evolution is just a theory."
Of course, the problem with that last one is that the creationist is substituting a scientific term with a colloquial meaning in which a theory is the same thing as a SWAG ("some wild-a** guess"). Instead, in science a theory is a comprehensive model based on the evidence which explains phenomena (AKA "facts") and which has been tested repeatedly and has not been invalidated by that exhaustive testing. Though what I just wrote does not do it justice.
Several years ago I heard somebody offer a well-rehearsed response to "it's only a theory" that covered all the pertinent points and did so as a piece of highly polished patter. Unfortunately, I can just barely remember it, though I would like to include it in my new page. What I remember starts with something like, "Oh, you mean it's just a comprehensive ...", and includes what I mention in the second paragraph of this message.
Has anybody encountered that response or a similar one that he could present here? Or craft one himself?
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