You said on another thread:
Sometimes I wish the HabitableZone could engage in that kind of intellectual journey, and the presence of two sides here would at least theoretically mitigate the tendency to drift off into wishful thinking.
No, I don't think you do.
I get this "theocracy" crap all the time here, as though it was a realistic thing to be concerned about. Precedents and history count for something.
If I'm walking through the African veldt, precendent and history tell me that a concern about things like lions and hyenas are reasonable concerns. If someone with me tells me I should be worried about polar bears, I don't take them very seriously.
If I show them that no wild polar bears have ever been seen in the continent, and he continues to worry about polar bears, and declares that lions and hyenas are not something to be concerned about, the problem is deeper than simple ignorance.