Today I got a tweet (via @EveDestiny) from @DanielFlorien:

Ask God, “What is the distance from the earth to the sun?” and you get silence.  Google, however, answers instantly.

I loved this one, because it speaks to the apologetic that I used to use when I was of that ilk, where the Earth is “just the right distance from the Sun,” and on and on and on, about the planet and life (always read “as we know it,” which to the thinking mind is clearly a red herring when it comes to abiogenesis).  Logical, given our nice, balmy winters and not-too-hot summers right? (that is, of course, if you live in the U.S. or Great Britain).  Ah, but what of the extremophiles?  Dammit, science, there you go again.  From NASA:

In the past 30 years, however, our knowledge of life in extreme environments has exploded. Scientists have found microbes in nuclear reactors, microbes that love acid, microbes that swim in boiling-hot water. Whole ecosystems have been discovered around deep sea vents where sunlight never reaches and the emerging vent-water is hot enough to melt lead.

The Goldilocks Zone is bigger than we thought.

Problem is, nearly every ID apologist is using data from thirty to forty years ago.  Why?  Because if science disagrees, it must be wrong.  That is how faith works, if you didn’t know.  Even though insane notoriety awaits you if you reliably disprove a scientific theory, the myth persists that scientists “have faith” in science, therefore it isn’t any different than religion.

Therefore, the challenge is still on the table (though it wasn’t I that threw the gauntlet.  It has always been there, just few have noticed it).  Let’s do the math.  Let’s look at 13.5 billion years of stellar evolution, and see what fits.  Let’s look through 4.5 billion years of planetary evolution.  3.8 billion years of biological evolution.  Let’s see what fits.  Then, let’s look at the ID theories and see what fits.   Do the math.  Write an ID textbook, and give it to the institutions.  Show your work.

“How safe is this habitable zone, O Lord?”  And he said “This safe,” and stretched his hands from the Sun to 99942 Apophis.