Creationists and Some AGW Skeptics

I am a scientist and I value skepticism. I am always of the opinion that things should be questioned. It's how science works. But skepticism in order to avoid arriving at a reasonable conclusion can cause harm. Especially when the skepticism is apparently there simply to forestall inconvenient action that should prudently be taken.

I am, however, not a climate scientist. My doctorate is in geology with years spent as a research chemist. I am, however, not a trained climatologist nor do I fully grasp every detail of the climatological basis of anthropogenic global climate change ("man made global warming", or AGW). But I am aware enough of the data and have read extensively in the area. I am rather of the opinion that the apparent majority of climate scientists who feel AGW is real passes the "sniff test" in terms of the science. The fundamentals seem relatively solid, even if there may some subtle details that must be addressed and further investigated.

I feel that, since science never has 100% perfect knowledge, that it is rational to take action on the most likely scenarios based on the data. Right now those data seem to indicate that we should start making some serious changes and fast.

But not everyone sees it that way. I'm involved in some on-line discussions mostly with other "interested amateurs" and I've notice something. The debate style that some of these skeptics (and some bloggers on the AGW skeptic side) take looks a lot like the debate tactics I saw Creationists use when I read Creationist critiques of evolution.

So much so that I made this handy little table which I may add to as time goes on. But I wanted to put it out there now.

The table is divided into a column for Argument (the "gambit" played against the standard science) and the next two columns give examples of how this is applied by some Creationists and how it is applied by some AGW Sketpics.

I have attempted to provide links (which were live at the time of this writing) and the verbiage used in those links.

Argument	Creationist	AGW Skeptic
…..is dead!	Evolution is Dead	Global Warming is Dead
….is a scam/fraud	Evolution Fraud	Global Warming Scam
....legitimate scientists disagree with the dominant hypothesis	Institute of Creation Research RATE Group	Petition Project
I don't believe it, I don't want to pay for it!	"Like it or not, you pay for faith in evolution" (WND Article)	Global Warming Tax
The science isn't settled!
…need more/better proof	Transitional fossils	Better models