Here’s a lilttle lesson in paleontology, right out of Kansas, right beneath the site of the infamous anit-evolution trial. See the excerpt below. Fascinating stuff.

Also, as an added bonus, the article below quotes some of the “intelligent design scientists” who testified. These scientists were asked questions about their view of the age of the earth. According to the article excerpted, some of them refused to answer. Others claimed the earth was 10,000 to 100,000 years old.

Those witness who “take no position” on the age of the earth are just trying to avoid embarassment. They KNOW that no empirical science supports their biblical belif that the earth is very young. They KNOW they will be made laughing stocks if they profess that the earth is very young.

How can any thinking person take seriously the scientific testimony or theories of “Scientists” who believe the earth is about 10,000 years old?

It’s like these “scientists” live in an alternative universe, a universe where real empirical evidence means nothing. If they would just be honest and declare that they want the Bible taught in classrooms, I would respect them more.

In fact, I am not opposed to some religious study in public schools, as part of a social studies curriculum. Religion being a very important part of human existence and social interaction, students should study it, in an academic fashion.

But we should not teach students religious doctrine as if it were empirical science. That’s what the anti-evolutionists want us to do.

The American Street Blog Archive - Niobrara chalk formation and anti-evolution trial

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There is a geological formation in Kansas called the Niobrara Chalk. Actually, it’s not just in Kansas; it extends all the way up into Canada, but the Niobrara has been exposed by erosion over much of northwestern Kansas, making it easy to dig into. And this is where the Sternbergs and Cope and Marsh went hunting for sea monsters.

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Reading about the ridiculous anti-evolution trial going on there was rather depressing. It isn%u2019t just that the creationist arguments are so poor, but that they are making them in Kansas, where beneath their very feet are the relics of an ancient world that show them to be wrong. Don%u2019t schoolchildren there take pride in the paleontological wealth of their home? Do the people bury their imaginations and avoid thinking about the history that surrounds them?

During the course of the hearings, the lawyer on the side of science, Pedro Irigonegaray, asked several of the witnesses for Intelligent Design creationism what they thought the age of the earth was. It’s a simple, straightforward question with a simple answer: about 4.5 billion years. The Intelligent Design creationists found it difficult. Some answers were ludicrous, such as Daniel Ely’s and John Sanford’s assertion that the earth was between 10 and 100 thousand years old. Others were evasive: Stephen Meyer and Angus Menuge refused to answer. Some of these ‘qualified witnesses’ were embarrassingly ignorant: William Harris could only say, ‘don’t know. I think it’s probably really old.’ All of this is in line with the intellectually flaccid position of the godfather of the Intelligent Design movement, Phillip Johnson, who has bravely announced that ‘I have consistently said that I take no position on the age of the earth’.