"Not having seen or experienced something is irrelevant to its existence." But completely relevant to whether you KNOW it exists or simply have faith (believe) that it exists because someone told you so. But you're right, it is about semantics. Everything is about semantics. Let's consider a garden variety definition of faith... 1. confidence or trust in a person or thing: faith in another's ability. 2. belief that is not based on proof: He had faith that the hypothesis would be substantiated by fact. So you DO have faith in science (confidence, trust), just not faith in the way you're defining it. So I suspect your religious friends clearly understand your belief in science as "faith" even if you don't. "I do not BELIEVE these things exist. The scientific evidence supports their existence." And you BELIEVE the scientific evidence despite it being postulated, tested and interpreted by humans with their own agendas. For the record, I personally believe in evolution. And yes I said "believe". Let's not forget that it's still only a theory. Kristine Zickuhr Registrar Wisconsin Veterans Museum ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).