Heh. In my opinion, were I to be funding research in this area, my goal would be to ascertain what happened and then find a way to make practical use of that knowledge. My objective would not be to argue with "the Jesus people" and force them to see things my way. That is fruitless and I question the ethics and practicality of science motivated by social debates.

I appreciate what you're saying but I don't think that validates the "know it all" stance. You're right, its not black and white, and I like that you think that way because its exactly how I think. Very few things are black and white and undisputed certainty is such a rare thing as to be considered "typically an error".

Great post though.