One doesn't believe in facts. They are facts. They don't care what you think of them, they just exist.

The better question would be, "Do you believe a supreme being catalyzed the Big Bang?" See, belief in a god is something that cannot be proven, it's held in something we call faith. Faith is belief without facts. It's actually a position I was taught in a Lutheran bible class as a way to meld the chasm between faith and science. Since then, I've learned that there are detailed micro-atomic explanations for the creation of our universe that do not require a god's influence.

Evolution occurs all the time right in front of us. We see it with plants and microbes all the time. We see it in animals; it's how breeding works with horses, dogs and all other animals. How could someone think that these facts should be ignored in favor of an unprovable faith? That's idiocy.

Regarding your neighbor, it's unfortunate that he's allowed to vote or even drive a car. The ignorance of too many people in our country is why we're at this precipice where I can see the end of our Constitutional government. The future looks bleak.

I put the asterisks around the word believe for that reason.

mutations that turn a virus into a pathogen, or the results of selective breeding of domestic animals and crops. Macroevolution, which is how new species evolve, is harder to explain to someone without a background in biology, and is something we don't see happening around us all the time. It is most often sen in the fossil record, so creationists have numerous very "creative" beliefs to account for what is evident in the fossil record. Their favorite go-to creationist contention is that Noah's Great Flood created the entire fossil record in a flash (and the Grand Canyon, too!). They also seem to rely on God the Practical Joker, who tests our faith by leaving fossils around that appear to support evolution.

That there was a creator, it would Not prove a God or a Jesus.

They are deluded. I see a lot of idiots like that around here. I don't understand their need to believe lies and their refusal to use their intellect.

Once upon a time, there was nothing. Suddenly, it exploded into everything.

(If confronted on how this makes sense, just ask them where god the creator came from.)

I would cock my head like my cat does as if to say "are you serious?"

It would be a tip, I think, that the person wants ME to buy a gawd from them and I ain't abuying

"Do you *believe* in science?"

My hubs, in contrast to me, tries not to offend anyone, especially if that person had invited us to dinner and a b.d. party. At those gatherings I offended a group of ignorant repubs (not all were). Anyway, we've not been invited back.

Needless to say, my tactful hubs & I are very different.

Down there, people would ssume everybody was Christian and ask what church you went to, it's how they sorted people out. Friends there now say all small towns and rural areas still do that reliably, but it takes them a while to get around to it in the big cities.

Nobody asks up north or out west, they're afraid they might get an answer followed by a harangue.

I admire your tolerance, the camaraderie, and sense of humor you shared with your neighbor.

Our neighbor however is a stern, overbearing, chauvinistic, retired military man whose only child doesn't speak to him. He is indeed a RWNJ and a practicing Catholic, global warming denier, and hunter to boot, who, btw, killed the neighborhood's "pet" wild gray fox. (Fox was practically tame in that a couple of us fed her at close range). So, there are many reasons for us not to be friends and now, we go to lengths to avoid him.

More than half the neighborhood share his same mindset. We plan to move in the next couple of yrs. Being informed liberal atheists in the South is most difficult. We've interacted with enough wingers that finding like-minded people is a welcomed breath of fresh air, that's why I spend so much time here on DU.

On edit: the one really intolerable thing about this man, who has *much* less education than my hubs and who reads FAR less than I, is that he's so f'n condescending with me.

agree with you about how tough it is to be an informed liberal atheist in the Babel belt. If it weren't for all I have invested in my home, and the fact that I'm close to retirement, I would be moving to Vermont.

I was walking down the street in downtown Harrisburg when a man started pacing me. He inquired if I believed in Jesus. Quite the opening gambit, I thought to myself but answered out loud, "No."

This seemed to take him aback. "You don't?"

"No."

"Do you have anything wrong with you, medically, I mean?"

"No."

"A headache or flu or anything. I can heal it with prayer!"

"No."

"I have healed lots of people. Just last week I healed a guy with cancer."

I stopped responding as we had fortuitously reached the entrance to my building. I simply walked in and the fellow did not follow me. I caught him approaching another unsuspecting pedestrian as the door closed behind me.

Well wasn't that special, I thought then set my mind to more important tasks.

I wonder if he was expecting money for his faith healing or if wasting my time was his entire goal.