Young Earth Creationism
gregladen | May 26, 2016I want to tell you about a great new book that has one forgivable flaw, which I’ll mention at the end. But first, a word from Bizarro Land. This is about the Grand Canyon.
I would think that the Grand Canyon would be the last thing that creationists would point to as proof of a young earth (several thousands of years old). Just go look at the Grand Canyon. One of the top major layers, the Kaibab Formation, is around 300 to 400 feet thick and made mostly of limestone. That would take a long time to form. But wait, there's more. Within the Kaibab limestone there are also different sorts of…
gregladen | February 9, 2013"You will be a restless wanderer on the earth" -Genesis 4:12
Today, a few of us visited the Twin Cities Home School Creation Science Fair of 2013 at its new location. The fair used to be held in the historic Har Mar Shopping Mall but for some reason it has wandered up the road and across Snelling Avenue to a nearby Christian college on the shores of beautiful Lake Johanna Lake, in Roseville, Minnesota.
We were, verily, Mike, Angry by Choice, and me. Angry arrived separately and reviewed the exhibits on his own, and Mike and I visited nearly all of the 23 posters together and spoke to many…
jlynch | February 1, 2009New data on creationism in Britain. The, ahem, âhighlightsâ
51% agree that "evolution alone is not enough to explain the complex structures of some living things, so the intervention of a designer is needed at key stages." 40% disagree.
32% agree that "God created the world sometime in the last 10,000 years." 60% disagree.
Thus, support for ID runs at 51% and support for YEC runs at 32%.
Update: Below is the cross-tabs for the preliminary results from the poll. These are, apparently, preliminary results.
News report here; preliminary report in this pdf; Apparently the full…
jlynch | January 28, 2009Iâve been picking on creationists for a number for years now, so it is somewhat strange for me to come out and offer one a gold star but, hey!
Todd Wood, a YEC at Bryan College had had a paper accepted over at Answers Research Journal that gives his take on the whole ridiculous âDarwin was a plagiaristâ riff that the likes of Roy Davies have been shilling. So to recap, John Wilkins, Jim Lennox, and now Todd Wood (a creationist for cripes sake!) think that Davies is wrong.
Short version of Wood:
According to Davies, these alleged evidences of Darwinâs misdeeds have been ignored by Darwin…
jlynch | June 24, 2008
(source; click for larger version)
So 60% of Republicans - versus 40% of Independents and 38% of Democrats - think that God created humans as is, 10,000 years ago. Let's get this clear - this isn't 60% accepting some form of "intelligent design" and allowing the archeological and fossil records to speak for themselves. This isn't some form of theistic evolution that may be compatible with some form of intelligent design (the numbers there are 32, 36 & 39% respectively). No, this is 60% of Republicans (and 44% of Americans) being abjectly ignorant and accepting a young earth creationist…
jlynch | February 4, 2008Why to not engage in scientific peer review:
We have often received feedback in the form of questions on the lines of, 'If creation is scientific, then why don't you publish in peer-reviewed secular journals?' Andrew Kulikovsky answers this common question in detail. He points out the advantage of peer review but then documents its many shortcomings in practice, including rejecting top research while admitting fraud, as well as an all-to-common role in protecting the ruling paradigm. So it is folly for anticreationists to hide behind it instead of dealing with the arguments. This is why, to…
jlynch | January 2, 2008Some of the other SciBlings are doing it, so why not ...
My compatibility with the current gaggle of presidential candidates:
Kucinich (95)
Gravel (90)
Richardson (82)
Edwards (81)
Dodd (78)
Clinton (74)
Obama (72)
Biden (72)
Paul (61)
McCain (44)
Thompson (38)
Huckabee (36)
Romney (35)
Giuliani (34)
Hunter (28)
Somewhat predictable, though I’m surprised at Clinton over Obama. Feel free to comment as to your results.
jlynch | January 2, 2008The 486 nominations for Open Laboratory 2007 have been whittled down to 53 and Bora has the complete listing of the entries that will appear in book form in time for the 2nd Science Blogging Conference. I’m happy to report that my Pithecophobes of the World, Unite! Part I, Part II, Part III and Part IV have been judged suitable for inclusion. Thanks again to the reader who nominated them!
I guess I have some editing and formatting to do!
jlynch | December 15, 2007An English backpacker who stabbed a Scottish traveller to death during a row about creationism and evolution was sent to jail for five years by a judge in Australia.
Alexander York, 33, from Essex, had become involved in a bitter argument over the origins of mankind and later, in the caravan park where they were staying, the row turned to violence.
Scottish backpacker Rudi Boa, 28, from Inverness, fell dying into his girlfriend’s arms after being stabbed in the chest by York in January last year.
Guess which one was the creationist?
The Scottish couple, who were staying in Tumut in the…
jlynch | October 23, 2007One result from a Barna Group poll on biblical literalism:
The Bible opens with the description of God creating the universe in six days. That report is accepted as literally true by 60% of the adult population. This passage brought out major distinctions across people groups. For instance, while 73% of the adults who did not attend college believe this account to be literal, just half as many college graduates (38%) hold that view. About half of the residents of the Northeast (52%) and West (50%) hold a literal view of the creation account, compared to 62% of those in the Midwest and 72% of…
jlynch | August 23, 2007First we were "slime-snake-monkey-people". Now we’re "mutant randomites," and Johnson accuses us of name-calling! Mr Mote, meet Mr Eye.
This just keeps getting better and better.
jlynch | August 21, 2007Creationist Robert Bowie Johnson Jr. has just published a book detailing Noah's role in Greek art as a known historical figure. Yeah, *that* Noah. Johnson says:
"In Greek art, we find detailed, consistent portrayals of the early Genesis themes including: the ancient garden, the serpent-entwined apple tree, the first family, Cain killing Abel, the Flood, and the successful rebellion against Noah after the Flood. Greek artists made the gods look just like people because that's who they were--our ancestors. Socrates himself referred to the gods as such"
As this article notes:
To shock the…
jlynch | August 17, 2007Jerry Bergman is well know to those of us who follow creationism - in the past he has blamed Darwin(ism) for practically every ill that afflicts the modern world and regularly publishes "historical" work in the journals of the Answers in Genesis and teh Creation Research Society. Bergman's history is deeply flawed and he twists facts to suit his pre-ordained position (like many YEC commentators).
Bergman has recently written a piece for ICR Impact discussing the French philosopher, Henri Bergson, author of L'Evolution créatrice (1907, not 1944 as Bergman indicates). The articles begins:
An…
jlynch | July 31, 2007Sahotra Sarkar (Philosophy of Biology, University of Texas) has revived his blog in response to the creationist takeover of the Texas Board of Education.
Sarkar is the author of Doubting Darwin? Creationist Designs on Evolution and thus will no doubt have good things to say about the situation in Texas.
jlynch | February 12, 2007
The New York Times has run a story about the young earth creationist (and ex-DI Fellow) Marcus Ross who received his PhD in geological sciences. Predictablly, the denizens of Uncommon Descent see this as some sort of victory. Cordova comments:
He serves as a role model for how ID proponents and even young earth creationists can matriculate through Darwinist controlled institutions.
A role model? Perhaps. But only if one believes that it is OK to lie your way through graduate school. As PZ notes:
He was doing "research" on the distribution of mosasaurs 65 million years ago, but what he was…
jlynch | December 30, 2006Noticed a few hits from FreeRepublic.com this morning as someone called "truthfinder9" had linked to my post about Ken Ham and AiG revenue. Here is a highlight:
truthfinder9
I noticed the miltant YECs over at AIG have stepped up their unchristian attacks on other Christians. I wonder if their drop in funding has anything to do with it. Or maybe their methods and actions are finally catching up to them. .... [snip quote from my original post]
Isn't it illegal for members of a nonprofit to financially benefit from the donations of their supporters? Seems like Ken Ham was living high off…
jlynch | December 29, 2006Back in March, I noted that creationism was a profitable business ... at least for Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis who had a salary of $121,764 for 2004. Now Jim Lippard is reporting that Ham has taken a pay-cut and only made $60,000 in 2005. Poor, poor Ken ... must be rough surviving in a state
where the median household income is $37,270.
Update (12/30): Jim left this comment which is worth putting up front-and-center:
Actually, as I've now pointed out at my blog and in comments at Pharyngula, I made an embarrassing mistake by failing to notice a technical reason for the apparent (and…
jlynch | October 21, 2006As some of you may know, in 1650, the Irish archbishop, James Ussher dated the beginning of the universe using the Book of Genesis and calculated the date of creation to be October 22, 4004 BC. That would make the universe 6002 6009 years old today.
jlynch | April 14, 2006News from Louisville is that the YEC geologist, Kurt Wise, has taken Dembski's position at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary as director of its Center for Theology and Science. Wise is currently at Bryan College (Dayton, Tn). Predictably a SBTS representative hews to the party line:
"With the addition of Kurt Wise, we are recognizing that creation is a ground zero theological crisis point right now in American culture and even in our churches ... We need to train Southern Baptist pastors to equip young people to engage Darwinism from elementary school on. We also need to train…