Nehemiah did the same thing when his enemies wanted him to stop the work and come down to talk about the wall he was building. His answer was classic. Nearly every day a skeptic or scoffer will try to engage me in a letter writing battle via e-mail or standard mail over the creation subject. That would be casting my pearls before swine. If they are so sure they are right, they should be delighted with the opportunity to debate me publicly.
Atheists seem to have nothing else to do.
They know they can't get a crowd together for an atheist's meeting, so they ride on the coattails of the creationists. For example, I recently was invited by the free-thought club on the Ohio State University campus to debate the editor of the American Atheist Magazine. I speak to crowds of over 1000 many weeks out of the year. The atheists of course have a 'smarter than thou' attitude about it all. Converted evolutionists make great creationists.