[lookout123]

Out of curiosity, what was the age range for those in the discussion? My guess is that those actively involved were between 27 and 36. In the late '80's there was a bit of a craze in the churches. Youth pastors had already been sucked into the "metal is from the devil" BS and it had kind of run it's course. There was only a short lull before youth pastors started hearing about the horrors of evolution. They were taught a handfull of talking points to combat the evil ideas. They accepted the talking points as gospel because very learned men, ahem, had told them about them. Next thing you know youth pastors were telling kids that carbon dating didn't work. (the story was of the carbon date reading that came back @2000 years ago, but it was really a HAT MADE IN 1958!!!) They were told that dinosaurs didn't exist and as proof they were given the story about a particular dinosaur that had been debunked when it was discovered that bones from a number of animals had been combined to form the creature.

Christians who grew up in youth groups during that time heard these stories and some are too intellectually lazy to have ever given them a second thought. So they walk into a conversation with someone who has thought about the issue with their "facts" all lined up unchallenged and ready to go.

Oh, and to answer your question, I don't think one necessarily trumps the other. People with a religious faith line their thoughts and beliefs up with known science all the time. I think for that to happen though, scientists and believers have to be willing to know that they don't know everything.