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Looking back at your posts, I am assuming that you are both an atheist and an evolutionist.

You are wrong. I believe in God, and I accept the ToE.

So my question is, why is it that you spend any time at all either defending your position or attacking alternative positions? Not just on evolution/creation but on any subject? In other words, why do you care?

Because our advancement -- our ability to live in something other than mud huts and misery -- is directly due to our use of the scientific method to gain knowledge about the world, and to invent ways to make life better. There is a neo-Luddite streak in creationism which would reject scientific knowledge. I have no real desire to slip back into the dark ages.

So, again, why do care about anything? All is vanity. I fail to see how existence is preferable to non-existence.

Since I'm not an atheist, this doesn't apply to me. But I see no evidence from actual atheists that atheism = nihilism. Their lives seem no less full of meaning and purpose than do those of theists.

Back to specifics, what do you hope to achieve by coming on FR and debating?

I am concerned that ID/creationism will be used by the left to paint conservatives as a bunch of knuckle-dragging anti-science religious fundamentalists. This debate has real-world political ramifications.

But I see no evidence from actual atheists that atheism = nihilism. Their lives seem no less full of meaning and purpose than do those of theists.

Have they ever communicated to you the basis of their meaning and purpose? I am asking this question sincerely.

Don't you see that if we are merely products of evolution, then emotions (love, hate, envy, etc) as well as our efforts to improve our condition and our chance for survival are merely evolutionary processes and nothing more. To assign any meaning to loving someone or striving to invent a vaccine or even working to develop a food source to feed millions is nothing but folly. At that point, we are no different than that lion on the African plain who acts as if it actually makes a difference whether it procreates or not.

You say atheism does not equal nihilism. How can it not? Further, I would make the claim that any atheist who claims to have meaning and purpose in his or her life would, upon self-inspection, find an inconsistancy in his or her worldview.