Young Earth vs. Old Earth

This is one of those big Christian arguments which, at face value, has little to no effect on the world in which we live.

If "Young-Earth Creationism" is correct, we're still here living right now.
If "Old-Earth Creationism"/evolution/what have you is correct, we're still living here right now.

Of course, the argument isn't really about the face value of YEC vs. OEC.
The argument, and thus its far-reaching effects, involves a gradual shift in priorities for the Christian community.

Young-Earth represents the old way (ironically).
-"God said, I believe it, and that settles it," "old-time religion," etc. thinking.
-faith instead of reason.
-Science is the enemy of faith (and thus God), even though YEC Christians continue to take advantage of SCIENTIFIC breakthroughs, especially in technology.
-The Bible > anything and everything else, and nothing you say will convince me otherwise.

Old-Earth represents the new way.
-"Prove it!" "How can you say that in light of this and this and this contradiction?" etc.
-Acknowledging that there are mysteries in the universe which we will never understand, but in the meantime it behooves us as rational, thinking beings to strive to understand all we can.
-Faith working with the rational minds God gave us in order to find a synthesis of the two.
-Science is a necessary ally of faith, especially when studying Galileo, Newton, Copernicus, etc. who were all Christians believing that by achieving greater understanding of God's universe, they could gain greater appreciation for His creative nature and find new more wondrous reasons to worship Him.

At least for me personally, once I reached this understanding I could never go back to the old way.

Notice there aren't many converts from one to the other, barring divine intervention?
This is one of the VERY few Christian arguments with VERY distinct battle lines.
A Christian attempting to study the origins of the universe will quickly find the two sides clashing throughout spiritual and scientific academia, though the Young-Earth side rarely ventures into scientific territory (for obvious reasons).


A larger, more detrimental effect of this argument is to anyone outside looking in.
God forbid an atheist/etc. seeking the truth be turned away because all he/she sees of "Christians" is a bunch of yappy dogs nipping at each other.

I believe as technology gives us increasing ability to accurately look back in time, the Young-Earth mentality will disappear, or at least be limited to tiny groups of senile senior citizens still shaking their heads and folding their arms saying "Nuh-uh!"