There is only one way of knowing and it's through scientific enquiry, 'Evolution Weekend' is an attempt at squaring the circle.

This is perhaps a worthy project.
But how does the process of evolution work in the body-mind-structures of human beings and therefore by extension on the Earthworld altogether?
This essay describes how it works:
http://www.aboutadidam.org/readings/divine_physics_of_evolution/index.html
Checking out the various links on the authors recommended websites (etc) I see that it features all of the usual suspects that try to reconcile old-style "creator"-God religion with that proposed by science. Including various attempts to interpret the meaning(s) of the books of Genesis. Most of which presume that the "garden of eden" was an historical place, rather than a description of the subtle psycho-physical structures of each and every human being, fully awake to his/her True Condition prior to the "fall".
This reference gives a unique esoteric interpretation of the "garden of eden" as a garden of Indestructible Light.
http://www.beezone.com/adidajesus/adamnervoussystemeveflesh.html
This reference criticises the essentially reductionist nature of the usual Christian attempts to reconcile religion and science. Attempts which reduce religion to entirely secular purposes.
http://www.adidam.org/Content/teaching/print-files/religion-and-science.pdf

Speaking of circles and/or the dreadful mind that wants to square the circle or confine humankind to Weber's famous iron cage, and eliminate any kind of paradox and ecstasy from the humanly created world, this perception of Reality is very interesting.

The Nature of Reality Itself can be said to be Spherical, without center or bounds.
It is not elsewhere. It is not a point. It is not separate.
The "ego" versus "object" - mind - is a mental fiction. It is not a description of Reality Itself, not a description of what experiencing is in any moment.
Experience is not based on "point" and separation.
There are no "points".
There are no "centers".
There is infinite association.
Boundless Touch.
Centerless Being.
Everything is organized in the manner of spheres - NOT points. What appears to be a point is an apparent conjunction of spheres.
There is no point,no center, no finalty, no dilemm, no ego.
All difficulty can be transcended, because everything is a Sphere, - Boundless, Centerless Being, Bright.

The irreducible paradox of unobservability and unknowability is the actual state of every one and every thing.

Scientific materialism has deprived humankind of all profundity of view - relative to the nature and significance of the conditional universe, and relative to the Divine Nature of Reality Itself.
Scientific materialism is a global "cultural program", which has so effectively supported the ego's motive to achieve a perfectly independent state of "self-sufficiency" that, as a result, the human collective has brought itself to the point of global destruction and universal despair.

mac, you said:

"There is only one way of knowing and it's through scientific enquiry, 'Evolution Weekend' is an attempt at squaring the circle."

Scientific enquiry can't prove your statement. Therefore you can't claim to know that this view is correct.

Since your viewpoint ultimately lies in the realm of the unknowable, we should reject it.

The question for me is who on earth considers such a pointless event to have any usefulness in the year 2014.

Let's be clear, any alternative view to that of evolution can only be based upon a religious belief. My evidence for this is that there is not a single young-earth creationist who has arrived at their conclusion without reference to the bible.

There's a piece in today's SMH on the subject.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/creation-vs-evolution-the-debate-that-went-nowhere-20140205-hvbcl.html

"Ham... sought to draw a distinction between observational science and what he called 'historical science'. Since no one was around to watch ice layers form or the rings of ancient trees being created, he said, scientists could not claim to be sure how it happened... while creationism is backed by the eyewitness testimony of God."

This observation is also quite revealing:

"For three hours the audience appeared to be captivated, obediently applauding only when given permission to by the CNN moderator. Another 1 million people watched online and at one point the debate was one of the top four trending topics on Twitter. For all that attention, though, it seemed few minds were changed."

I sincerely doubt that any minds, at all, were changed.

Debating Creationism vs. Evolution is like debating zombies vs. Queen Victoria. To accept the existence of zombies, you need to be able to believe that dead people can walk around with bits of themselves missing, going "aaaaargh" a lot. To accept that Queen Victoria existed, you have to rely upon the word of a whole load of historians, since none of us can actually vouch personally for her existence.

Come to think of it, that might actually make for a far more interesting debate... but if you went into the debate believing that zombies are real, I doubt anything a historian could tell you would make any dent at all in your conviction.

Trav,

You row your boat and I'll row mine. You're at liberty to employ theologians or philosophers to give learned opinions on reality, as in the past, however, I'll rely on engineers to design aircraft or science-based medicine if I'm ill. If you do the same, the implication is that some ways of knowing are far superior to others. As far as I understand, theology has never established a single fact, not even that the supposed object of study actually exists.