Living in the South, if you do not wish to be almost entirely friendless, one needs to associate with Evangelicals. It is just part of life here. One Evangelical minister is a good friend of mine and we get together at least once a week for breakfast and/or play in a band. He was a professional musician before becoming a minister. He is liberal, which is an oddity for preachers here that I respect as he gets hassled by his fellow ministers.

Another minister became friends with us over 20 years ago and have maintained that friendship though he moved to the upper Midwest. His wife, years ago, confided to my wife that she did not want to be married to a minister. It was not the life she wanted. I don't know if being around us was a catalyst to her coming an atheist. They divorced and she too moved out of the area. This other minister friend posted he was anxious to go the Ark and Creation museum in Kentucky. I replied that the Ark and Creation museum are a scam taking money from Christians who do not understand evolution, science, geology, age of the earth etc. I was surprised that a well educated individual who has helped hundreds out of abusive cults would believe in Noah's ark.

I guess I should of stayed silent as I normally do when hearing absurdities knowing my response will have little to no affect other than maybe hurt someone's feelings. Oh well. Damage done. Will see if he still wants to visit us this summer.

I have an Evangelical friend, and our friendship works because we almost never discuss religion or politics. Instead, we talk about our jobs, our families, shared interests, her charity work, etc. She is a well-rounded tolerant person who knows how to play nicely with others who think differently from her.

But I also have an acquaintance who is "all Jesus, all the time." Barely a sentence escapes her lips that is not praising Jesus. I keep her at a long distance.

Maybe it would be nice sometimes to have a rewind button to undo or unsay some things, but maybe some things need to be said (even if it’s uncomfortable).

Your well educated friend reminded me of all the years that I wasted so much intellectual energy trying to make the impossible (like the story of Noah) somehow work in the real world.

I am in a band with a husband and wife who are very religious and very politically conservative (Fox News is usually on their TV when I show up at their house), but they have never said or done anything to try to sway me (either religiously or politically). In fact, I have seen several examples of them respecting other beliefs.

If the Arc Museum is being taken seriously by a friend, that is something that would make me compartmentalize my interactions with them even more. I don't think I could just smile and nod at that absurdity without a response either.

I guess you'll find out soon enough if he is offended enough to limit your friendship.

When you live among wall to wall Evangelicals, they don't get many checks and balances to know when they start sounding crazy. They automatically assume everyone around them is in agreement with their overall views. Maybe you gave him a well needed reality check, but maybe not. That's why I'm glad for RfM where we can vent instead.

Some of my TBM relatives visited the Ark Museum and one of the highlights for them was seeing the baby dinosaurs on the ark.

When I asked them how they thought the kangaroos got to and from the ark they just laughed and looked at me like old Shinehah is being silly again.

Orthodox mormons (the McConkie/JFS ones) actually have an answer — that the earth was still one land mass at the time of the flood. It didn't split up until later ("the days of Peleg" are literal to them).

https://www.gospeldoctrine.com/old-testament/genesis/genesis-10

https://ia800905.us.archive.org/34/items/Doctrines-of-Salvation-volume-1-joseph-fielding-smith/JFSDoctrinesofSalvationv1.pdf
(see p. 53)

So the kangaroos hopped and and the platypus ambled to what would become Australia, the penguins waddled south, the polar bears didn't eat the penguins and lumbered north, etc.

"I have an Evangelical friend" .... rule number one - These people are not your friends.

Good test of friendship.