Sorry for taking so long to reply, @steevc. Had a lot of Uni work over the last week or so and didn't get very much time for anything else. Yeah, I think positing God as an answer can lead to people not searching for more detailed answers on how things actually work. Not just about the physical universe either, but certain metaphysical problems can be ignored as well. Confidence in the idea that God is the answer can work as a kind of mental terminator.
Did you go along to that event on the flyer? I'm actually kind of shocked by that one as it's a Young Earth Creationist event. They're a pretty rare breed here! That's mostly an American market. I really hope that a new trend isn't about start here.
I didn't go. Too busy making music at the pub. I think the dominance of the church slowed down the development of science. We should all be open to new ideas if they are backed by evidence
Making music at a pub is definitely much preferable to listening to a religious zealot selling his product to other religious zealots, so don't blame you one bit for not going! It can be interesting to ask questions at events like this, but more often than not the questions go unanswered and they instead opt to play for their intended audience.
Totally agree we should all be open to new ideas backed by evidence. Even just entertaining a new idea for the sake of challenging our own ideas can be good. Not being open to our own ideas being challenged creates dogmatic thinking, which only leads to a stagnant closed mind.