How do Creationist Christians respond to the evidence for Evolution?

I think the best way for a Creationist Christian to respond to claims of evolution is to step back and examine the broader assertion as to whether evolution is possible. I believe that a Creationist Christian can take the moral and scientific high ground by using the scientific method to lessen the scientific claims of evolution.

I have found Stephen C. Meyer's Signature in the Cell to be an excellent resource and reference. Meyers goes through a series of easy-to-follow examples (a cheater at a roulette wheel, words built from Scrabble tiles, a combination lock) as well as some more challenging examples (such as the chance of a molecule mutating into a useful amino acid, given that the entire universe is working on that single problem).

Meyers comes to the conclusion that Intelligent Design is the best hypothesis that fits the data, and uses scientific thinking to undermine the very roots of evolution.

For a mass media resource (funny and accessible) rent or show the movie Expelled: No intelligence allowed. It draws some of the same conclusions and has some pointed moments in interviews with evolutionists when they say ridiculous things (e.g., life evolved on the backs of crystals). From the editing, a thoughtful skeptic would say that the evolutionist doesn't believe it himself.

As to a pointed question about carbon dating, I would point to the Cambrian explosion and note how many life forms appeared during this period. I would ask the evolutionist what evolutionary mechanism could have been the cause for this explosion of life forms. They will probably answer "punctuated equilibrium" or some variation, as described by Stephen Gould. Then, refer to chapter 19 of Meyer's book ("Sauce for the Goose") where he politely, firmly, and thoroughly dismisses Gould's notions.

Through history, Christianity has struggled with science. Ultimately, there are only three possible solutions that we can come to in order to reconcile facts with beliefs:

1. Re-evaluate, and attempt to change the facts (or establish new facts based on beliefs)

2. Re-evaluate and attempt to change the belief (or establish new beliefs based on the facts)

3. Do not attempt to reconcile the facts and the existing beliefs

These three directions have resulted in three separate doctrines:

• Old Earth Creationism

  The idea that God created the earth over the course of millions of years. This is an attempt to reconcile the latest understanding of science with the clear doctrine of creationism.

  (In regards to evolution specifically, Theistic Evolution, also known as evolutionary creation, is a doctrine that has come out of the belief of evolution.)

• Young Earth Creationism

  The idea that the Bible is completely accurate and that the best interpretation of the text speaks to the Earth being about 6,000-12,000 years old.

  This belief system presumes science's most popular conclusions to be somehow faulty and tries to shed more light on the matter by either hunting for new evidence or re-examining existing science and forwarding various possibilities that discredit the methods or premises used.

• Non-reconciliation

  Several Protestant denominations (From Southern Baptists to Quakers), simply don't try to reconcile these differences. They say that God created the universe and that science studies the universe, but they don't try to reconcile the two. These viewpoints basically leave the believers of the denomination open to make their own judgments (which generally follows YEC or OEC above).

Summary

As science changes, Christianity changes, usually. Sometimes, Christians don't attempt to reconcile the difference between science and religion. Sometimes they do. When they do, they end up either pushing back against their original beliefs or pushing back against the scientific system.

Ultimately, how evolution (and all other scientific theories) is reconciled with Christianity depends upon the doctrine to which you hold fast.

Quite frankly, there are several viewpoints on this. There is no one answer to your question.

• Some Christians see evolution as a complete non-issue (but you asked specifically about creationists, so this group is outside of the scope of our desired answer).
• Some hold what are sometimes called "compromise positions" by young-earth creationists, such as the Day-Age theory or the Gap Theory. Each of these theories explains an old earth while allowing for a semi-literal interpretation of the Genesis account: The Gap Theory by indicating that there's a "gap" between creation and Genesis and the Day-Age theory by explaining the days in Genesis as "time periods" rather than literal days.
• Others - literal young-earth creationists see flaws in the arguments and have specific arguments about the accuracy of the methods used to date the universe as old, and point to other evidences that could indicate a young earth.

To answer this fully would be too big an answer for this forum, but if you're really interested in how young earth creationists explain these things, a good resource you might consider is: http://www.icr.org (The Institute for Creation Research)

They also have articles that explain the gap and day-age theories, but they absolutely hold to the young-earth creationist view.

As for the partly man/partly ape skeletons, both the young and old earth creationist camps happily point to several examples of "human ancestors" that turned out to be mistaken identity or outright fraud. (Nebraska man, Java Man, and Piltdown man all come to mind off the top of my head.) They ask, "If these were accepted as human ancestors, and have been shown to be false, why would we automatically assume that the current "ancestors" are to be trusted."

But again, there's a range of beliefs, and not all creationists agree on every specific point or example.