Fealty to Gedolim

I've been listening to a lot of kiruv "how-to" lectures during my commute, and the kiruv pros' lack of logic and sheer ga'avah goes far beyond what I could have ever expected.

I don't have unwavering respect for and belief in the utterances of scientists, but I know well enough that I don't have the knowledge or tools to address complicated (and at times, not complicated) scientific issues. The rabbis who I have been listening to all have the same approach: Here is what science says, and I am going to tell you why they are wrong! No credentials, no background, nothing. They are (in this instance) "just" rabbis. In most cases it seems as though they read a few Christian apologist websites and the conclusions from some Kitchen or Cassutto books, and voila - they are experts! Even worse is the shameful logic these clowns try to pass of as error-proof and convincing.

In these lectures I really see what "fealty to gedolim" means. Kiruv pros are the gedolim of the "Jewish approach to science" field, and their audiences - believers in the lectures I'm listening to - eat up every word they say, no matter how nonsensical their musings. Some of the questions I hear asked in the mp3s clearly come from intelligent people, but they are so off the mark. They don't challenge or question - ever. And that is where the problem lays.