How to Teach Evolution to a Creationist | Forrest Valkai

Drawing from years of experience studying and teaching biology and his popular YouTube series Reacteria, Forrest Valkai explains the best techniques and most common pitfalls he encounters when explaining evolution to a creationist audience so that you can have more productive conversations with people who distrust science.

This talk was part of the exciting lineup for CSICon 2024. CSICon is the premiere conference in the US for science and skepticism.

Forrest Valkai is a biologist and science communicator who uses his platform to teach exciting science lessons, promote compassion and skepticism, and share his boundless love for life with audiences of all ages. He can be found on YouTube and TikTok and is a regular host on shows such as SkepTalk and The Atheist Experience. More than anything, he is proud to have built a career teaching people to love science and each other and encouraging everyone to never stop learning!

This talk took place during CSICon in Las Vegas on October 25, 2024

[CrawfishDeluxe]

"Reproduction of the Okay-est" is such a beautiful way to describe evolution.

[FelixRosas]

30:18 “Every single child is born with the capacity for the kind of wonder that science provides, and a scientist is just a child who survived.”
Bars.

[RenegadeScienceTeacher]

"It doesn't just stop at corn."
- Forrest Valkai, 2024

[burke]

This line got me. “I’m genuinely sorry for what I’m about to say: Listen to Ken Ham.” 😂

[ScuddotWobbrel]

Forrest was the person who finally helped me break free of the indoctrination I was raised in. As a kid who was homeschooled all the way through highschool, I had a broken view of the world that was informed exclusively by dogma. When I began to learn about what was taught in the outside world, I couldn't accept it. But when I heard Forrest debunking Ken Ham, something clicked. I'm so grateful for his work.

[theonionqueen]

Forrest’s channel got me through college. Not a science major, I was just a sad sack and his content made me happy.

[dojo]

I glad the algorithm sent me this video.

[schattey]

I was never a theist nor do i have a great interest in biology but I love forrest, he has the passion of a truly great teacher.

[mmoreno]

At about 24 minutes in. One of my favorite statements I've heard in the theist v atheist debates I've heard was something like "You can take any scientific text away from me and I've lost nothing but if I take a text away from you then you've lost everything."

[the_luggage]

"...but if you can win over just one person, you will be freeing that person from the shackles of dogmatic thinking; and you'll be protecting the future from a population that would burn the world around them out of ignorance & fear, and that is a very worthy endeavour indeed."

Well put, dear Sir, well put; nice conclusion.

[some-other-time]

Fun to see the excited and inquisitive 7-year old Forrest in the body and highly educated mind of an adult Forrest!

[rivera.]

I love Forest Valkai. He helped me in a big way escape dogmatic thinking and literally freed me from my own dumb ideas. He’s a modern day hero.

[lfelssordnry]

I don’t want to sound too dramatic here, but think that the importance of your work goes beyond giving the layman a proper understanding of the science. What you are providing is a bulwark against the tide of ant-intellectualism that is sweeping our country. I see your work as more important than just the communication of biology, and if I ever were too cross paths with you, expect a heartfelt hug. Never stop Forrest, you’re a rockstar.

[senthesanguinesinner]

I used to be a Jehovah’s Witness. A borderline cult that used *some* scientific stuff to fool you into thinking they must be right and smart. My family and I left years ago and I’ve felt burned by religion as a whole ever since. However, there was a dark time thereafter where being a science first atheist felt oddly hopeless and nihilistic. Forrest Valkai taught me about the beauty and wonder of science and nature with his videos and made me feel more open about other parts of my life, like my sexuality. Forrest didn’t just make learning fun, he made it enlightening and healing on a level no religious doctrine could ever reach.

[BlackTomorrowMusic]

I wish this was the kind of science teacher I had in high school. Instead, my biology teacher insisted that life came "from a who, not a what."

[davidoakes]

I spent a good chunk of my life learning how to speak to an athiest.
It's... surreal ... learning the other side now.
Thank you Forrest for helping me in my journey of education and just learning to think.

[monsoonmusic]

i love you bro this made me cry in the end. shit caught me off guard

[whynohappen]

the ending was genuinely beautiful. Forrest was the first ever channel I watched that was genuinely trying to teach science to those who didn’t get it. It didn’t just help me be who I am. It genuinely helped me discover interest in anthropology and evolution in a way I never would have due to my religious upbringing. I could never state how grateful I am to Forrest for helping me become me.

[StevenMyers-wxdu]

I was a figment of my indoctrination for 60 years. A Forest in the 60’s could have saved me decades of creationism.

[cooscoe]

Forrest is one of my all time favorites. So much insight and such a great sense of humor!