Bonkers Creationist: ‘fossil Proves The Earth Is 6,000 Years Old’

NUTCASE creationist Tom Meyer, above – a professor in Bible studies at Shasta Bible College and Graduate School in California – has seized on the discovery of a dinosaur’s remains in Montana as ‘proof ‘ of a 6,000 year old Earth, one that may very well be ‘the final nail’ in the coffin evolutionary theory.

While sane scientists agree that our planet is about 4.53 billion-years-old, Meyer, part of a stable of swivel-eyed loons who feature on Ken Ham’s “Answers in Genesis”, said:

Because of the astonishing condition of the remains of the dinosaur, it has been classified by The Guinness Book of World Records as the best-preserved dinosaur in the world.

The duckbill dinosaur in question has been estimated to have been four years old, 23ft long and around 4,000 pounds at the time of its demise. What makes the discovery so special is 90 percent of the dinosaur’s body is still covered in fossilized skin.

The remains of its skin, muscle and beak are still intact and its claws are still enveloped in a sort of soft tissue glove.

X-rays of the dinosaur, called Leonardo, showed the fossilised remains of its last meal – tree leaves, flowers, ferns and shrubs.

This discovery, Professor Meyer strongly believes, may very well be the final nail in evolution’s coffin.

How can Leonardo’s soft tissues and his last meal in his stomach stay preserved for over 77 million years?

According to Young Earth Creationists, the beast was quickly buried by the catastrophic (and mythological) Flood of Noah 4,000 years ago and entombed in the sands of time until it was discovered 21 years ago. Under the right conditions (think mummies found in Egypt) soft tissues can be preserved for thousands of years, but not for billions.

I sent the original Express report to Freethinker board member Robert Stovold, who holds a B.Sc in zoology degree. When he stopped laughing he said:

Phrases like ‘mummified dinosaurs” are sometimes used to describe fossils of this sort. However, such a phrase is misleading, because while linen-wrapped Egyptian remains (from mere thousands of years ago) do indeed preserve soft tissue, in these fossils, the animal’s remains have mineralised, such that the look of soft tissues is preserved (which is not the same as preserving the soft tissue itself).

The write-up of the find here, for example, initially describes the fossil as “covered in soft tissue”, but later concedes that this “soft tissue” “is now stone” (ie isn’t actually ‘soft’, or ’tissue’, and hasn’t actually been preserved). So these fossils, whilst certainly remarkable in preserving impressions of soft tissue, are no threat to the idea that dinosaurs lived millions, rather than thousands, of years ago.

The world of palaeontology was reported “left reeling” 21 years ago when fossil hunter Dan Stephenson found the remains of the 77 million-year-old duckbill dinosaur embedded into a canyon wall in Montana.

Although this species of dino is officially known as Brachylophosaurus Canadensis, scientists affectionately called the fossil Leonardo after some nearby graffiti that read: “Leonard Webb loves Geneva Jordan 1916.”

“Answers in Genesis” described Meyer thus:

Prof. Tom Meyer is known as The Bible Memory Man because of his unique ability to quote over 20 complete books of the Bible dramatically from memory.

He is a guest speaker at The Creation Museum where he presents the Bible spoken dramatically from memory in an engaging and powerful manner. Sharing his Bible memory insights, Tom inspires Christians of all ages to memorize the Word of God.

And speaking of creationist fools, Arkansas’ Republican Representative Mary Bentley, above, has suffered an ignominious defeat following her attempt to introduce creationism to the state’s schools.

A bill sponsored by Bentley stating that Arkansas teachers may teach religious beliefs of creation alongside scientific theories failed to advance from the Senate Education Committee this week after a furious backlash.

Reaction to the the deeply homophobic Bentley included the the threat of a lawsuit by the Freedom from Religion Foundation.

Bentley said many teachers had asked her to permit the teaching of “counter-theories” and open up classes for debate among students, but Senator Linda Chesterfield said the bill would allow all religion’s creation stories to be taught, which would lead to “consternation.”

Six of the eight committee members were present Wednesday, and three voted no.

A 1982 federal court ruling held unconstitutional an Arkansas law that mandated equal treatment of “creation science and evolution-science.” The US Supreme Court also struck down the state’s ban on teaching the theory of evolution in 1968.