I was bored so I was idly looking through some threads in the Apologetics section when I came upon
Questions for an Atheist. Of course, being an atheist I can't actually post in that section, but I was very amused by the link to a list of "
Clever questions atheists can't answer"
Since I thought it would be amusing (and did I mention I'm bored?) I thought I'd go through and answer them. While most of them are just ridiculous or non-sequiturs, some of them might provoke some interesting conversation...
1. If creationists can’t do science, then why do Kent Hovind and Duane T. Gish, who are creation scientists, have professional degrees in science?
Creationists can do science, providing they stick to areas in which their results don't contradict their dogma. It's only in those areas that they tend to have a conflict of interest and get into situations where they must misinterpret or misrepresent their results to make them fit said dogma.
By the way, Kent Hovind
doesn't have a professional degree in science. He has a worthless and unrecognised degree that he bought from a diploma mill
2. If dinosaurs turned into birds, why are we not afraid of them?
The sensible answer is that dinosaurs didn't "turn into" birds. Birds are a merely a subgroup of dinosaurs that survived the extinction that wiped out most of the others. Since the rest of the dinosaurs died out millions of years before humans evolved, why
would we be frightened of them? There's no reason that we should be scared of birds because of dinosaurs any more than we should be scared of house cats because of tigers.
The glib answer is that if you put someone in a field with an angry cassowary or ostrich they will be afraid of it!
3. If homosexuality is right, then how come two people of the same sex not produce a child?
Because ability to produce children is nothing to do with right and wrong. Otherwise it would be wrong for old people to marry because they can't produce children.
4. What purpose do we have if evolution is real?
We have whatever purpose we give ourselves, just the same as if evolution weren't real.
5. You say Jesus never existed, but have you heard of the Shroud of Turin?
Actually, I don't say that. But yes, I have heard of the Shroud of Turin. It's a medieval piece of art (the word "forgery" implies intention to mislead, and I don't think we know enough about who created it to assert that was the case) which has nothing to do with Jesus.
6. Why do we not see humans being born in the zoos from monkeys if we came from monkeys?
Humans don't come from monkeys. Humans and monkeys are both Simiforms that have evolved independently from a common ancestor.
7. Why do we go to church if God is not real?
I don't. Presumably you do because you think that God is real.
8. How did the Grand Canyon form?
Steady erosion over millions of years (around 17 million according to geologists).
9. Do you know that Jesus loves you?
Since he's been dead for a couple of thousand years I severely doubt that.
10. If Christianity is false, then why is it popular?
For the same reason that Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Taoism...