By Davis A. Young, a conservative evangelical writer who is also a 
geologist.  Author of two books devoted to separating evangelical
theology from young-earth and creation-science theories.

"What is much more likely to undermine Christian faith is the dogmatic
and persistent effort of creationists to present their theory before the 
public, Christian and non-Christian, as in accord with Scripture and
nature, especially when the evidence to the contrarty has been presented
again and again by competent Christian Scientists (e.g. Davis A. Young,
Creation and the Flood, D. E. Wonderly's God's Time-Records in Ancient
Sediments, and numerous articles published over the years in Journal of
the American Scientific Affiliation) It is sad that so much Christian
energy has to be wasted in proposing and refuting the false theory of
catastrophic Flood geology.  But Christians need to know the truth and
to be warned of error."

"The faith of many Christian people could be hindered when they
ultimately realize that the teachings of the Creationists are simply
not in accord with the facts."

"Furthermore, Creationism and Flood geology have put a serious roadblock
in the way of unbelieving scientists.  Although Christ has the power
to save unbelievers in spite of our foolishness and poor presentation
of the gospels, Christians should do all they can to avoid creating
unnecessary stumbling blocks to the reception of the gospel."

In closing:
"We are all dealing with God's world and with God-created facts...We
must handle the data reverently and worshipfully, yet we should not
be afraid of where the facts may lead.  God made those facts, and they
fit into His comprehensive plan for the world."


"Another possible danger is that in presenting the gospel to 
the lost and in defending God's truth we ourselves will seem 
to be false. It is time for Christian people to recognize 
that the defense of this modern, young-Earth, Flood-geology 
creationism is simply not truthful. It is simply not in 
accord with the facts that God has given. Creationism must 
be abandoned by Christians before harm is done. The 
persistent attempt of the creationist movement to get their 
points of view established in educational institutions can 
only bring harm to the Christian cause. Can we seriously 
expect non-Christian educational leaders to develop a 
respect for Christianity if we insist on teaching the brand 
of science that Creationism brings with it? Will not the 
forcing of modern Creationism on the public simply lend 
credence to the idea already entertained by so many 
intellectual leaders that Christianity, at least in its 
modern form, is sheer anti-intellectual obscurantism? I fear 
that it will." 

[_Christianitiy and the Age of the Earth_, by Davis Young, 
Zondervan 1982. p. 163.]