Well it's great that Planet Earth helped Hitch connect a few dots. I hope this immensely popular programme will do the same for many others. I also thought RD was appropriately generous in his written reply.

I can't see how this example could illuminate the world view of a blinkered creationist, when other examples of bad design abound.

When asked why a loving god would create poison ivy, a creationist in Kansas answered thusly:


On poison ivy etc, in the Judaeo-Christian context, we should note the Apostle Paul's remark in Rom 8:19 - 25, i.e creation now is not as it should be -- we live in a fallen, sin-cursed world -- but in God's due time, God will restore all things. And, God's motive is MERCY: giving us a chance to turn back from wrong and rebellion to good and love.


If poison ivy can be seen as evidence of a fallen, sin-cursed world, then lineages of secondarily blind salamanders should be even easier to explain.