Interesting thread, thought i would throw my 2 cents worth in.
Firstly, Dawkins for a person who spends so much time criticising christianity is scared to debate them. Why does he lack the courage to face the people he constantly pours scorn on? Was offered a chance to debate the science behind evolution and creation by the creatinoists when in Melbourne for the revival meeting that Dawkins and Co. had last year. The athiest refused. Creationists received the propoganda advantage because dawkins was too scared to debate.
I guess though that if the Greatest show on earth was the best that dawkins could do, then not surprised that he did not want to debate.
When it comes to life spontaneously arising from inorganic matter, the best that dawkins could come up with was that they are entitled to accept an implausible theory. This is typical dawkins using weasle words, what he is saying, we don't belive in God, so we can BELIEVE in anything no matter how unbelievable it is. To his credit though, he did admit that they do not know.
He then gives a couple of his favourite examples for how life, once miraculously started then changes by copying mistkes to add all the genetic info to go from a microbe to every living thing on earth. His examples, blind cave fishes and flightless birds. So his examples are in effect gentic mutations which result in loss of information. Guess it is like saying you have made a fortune on the stock market, because all your shares have only loss 10% each - impossible.
He is either being deliberately or ignorantly deceptive when he effectively accusses creationsits of believing fixity of the species to support his argument.
Not surprising really, he is just a zoologist. Jonathon Safarti, who has a PHD in physics wrote the greatest hoax on earth where he took dawkins arguments one by one and effectively destroys dawkins arguments.
A good read for anyone who is open minded to challenge their pre conceived beliefs.
Read that book and it is not surprising that dawkins was too scared to debate with safarti last year. Well Dawkins is coming again next year, so maybe dawkins has evolved a backbone since then and may just take up the challenge:)
Another point, the Ark did not come to rest on Mt. Ararat, the Bible says the mountains of Ararat which some scholars believe to be the Zagross mountains.
