PZ Myers has a nice, clear explanation of why anti-evolution apologetics are so frustrating to those of us with a science viewpoint. He starts with transitional fossils and moves on to out-of-context quotation and other rhetorical tricks. PZ asks,
“Why do you even bother to take quotes out of context from people like Dawkins or Darwin or Gould or Gee or Patterson? You know they aren’t expressing doubt about the theory of evolution. These are authorities who are well aware of the wide range of evidence available and have firmly ensconced themselves on the side of evolution, and so we all know immediately that you’re up to something dodgy when you try to pretend Dawkins is on your side with a fragment of a quote.”
