They plan to become doctors, researchers and professors, but these students from Liberty University, an evangelical school, also believe that God created the Earth in a week, around 6,000 years ago.
by Virginie Montet, in Washington for AFP

Each year, a group of biology students at the Christian university based in Lynchburg, Virginia, travels to the Natural History Museum in Washington to learn about a theory they dismiss as incorrect - Darwin's theory of evolution.

Polls taken in the last two years found that between 44 and 46 per cent of Americans believe that the Earth was created in a week, somewhere between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago. (photo by flickr user PsychoBauble)The young "creationists" examined a model of the Morganucodon rat, believed to be the first and common ancestor of mammals that appeared some 210 million years ago.

Lauren Dunn, 19, a second-year biology student, was unimpressed.

"210 million years, that's arbitrary. They put that time to make up for what they don't know," she said.

Nathan Hubbard, a 20 year-old from Michigan and a first-year biology major who plans to become a doctor, regarded the model with suspicion.

"There is no scientific, biological genetic way that this, this rat, could become you," he said, seemingly scandalised by the proposition.

Liberty University is the most prominent evangelical university in the United States, with around 12,000 students who adhere to strict rules and regulations regarding moral conduct.

Its biology curriculum includes a course on "Young Earth Creationism", which juxtaposes Charles Darwin's Origin of the Species with the Book of Genesis.

"In order to be the best creationist, you have to be the best evolutionist you can be," said Marcus Ross, who teaches paleontology and says of Adam and Eve: "I feel they were real people, they were the first people."

David DeWitt, a Liberty University biology professor, opens his classes with a prayer, asking God to help him teach his students.

"I pray that you help me to teach effectively and help the students to learn and defend their faith," he says.

Strongly expressed faith is not unusual in the United States, a country where 80 per cent of the population claim to believe in God and ascribe to established religions.

Polls taken in the last two years found that between 44 and 46 per cent of Americans believe that the Earth was created in a week, somewhere between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago.

Creationism, an increasingly popular theory in the United States and elsewhere in the world, rejects Darwin's theory that all living species evolved over the course of billions of years via the process of natural selection.

The school of thought has adherents among Jehovah's Witnesses and some fundamentalist Muslims, but in the United States it has won the most converts in the evangelical Christian community.

Former president George W. Bush, a born-again Christian, is among those who say evolutionary theory does not fully explain the Earth's creation, though the ex-president also noted he is not a "literalist" when it comes to the Bible.

Creationist belief has implications for the way people understand a variety of fields, including biology, paleontology and astronomy, but also impacts questions about climate change and educational debates.

At the Smithsonian Institute, among crowds of weekend visitors, the Liberty University students visited the evolution exhibition,.

But Darwin's explanation for why giraffes have long necks - that they evolved over time so they could reach higher foliage - and displays of fossil evidence failed to sway them.

"Creationism and evolutionism have different ways of explaining the evidence. The creationist way recognises the importance of biblical records," said Ross.

He teaches his students that dinosaurs were wiped from the face of the Earth 4,000 to 5,000 years ago during the flood that Noah survived by building an ark.

He says carbon-dating techniques that have been used to suggest the Earth is in fact billions of years old are simply not reliable.

He doesn't reject one prominent theory that dinosaurs were wiped out by a massive asteroid that collided into Earth, but suggests the collision coincided with the biblical flood.

Though Ross acknowledges that the United States is among the most welcoming environments in the world for creationists, he said it can be difficult to convince people to take him and his beliefs seriously.

"The attitude is when you are a creationist you are ignorant of the facts," he said.
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/03/10-2

I read this and realized that the article reminded me of the man made global warming nonsense..

With 4 billion years of massive and undeniable changes to the earths composition, topography and climate, a cult of fools believe that man has a larger influence on climate than the sun..

Useless idiots..

It reminded me about the temple of ignorance.

The Creation Museum in Kentucky
http://web.mit.edu/gjordan/www/creation/slides/_DSC2403.html

They claim man and dinosaurs co-existed

Oh sweet jayzus ... ! Here we go again ... 'creationism' is exactly like 'global warming' - it's a FRAUD. It is neither 'creation' nor 'science'. Creationism can’t be refuted, even in principle, because everything is consistent with it, even apparent contradictions and contraries. Scientific theories allow definite predictions to be made from them; they can, in principle, be refuted. Theories such as the Big Bang theory, the steady state theory, and natural selection can be tested by experiment and observation. Metaphysical theories such as creationism are “airtight” if they are self-consistent (i.e., contain no self-contradictory elements). No scientific theory is ever airtight.

What makes "scientific creationism" a pseudoscience is that it attempts to pass itself off as science even though it shares none of the essential characteristics of scientific theorizing. Creation science will remain forever unchanged as a belief. It will engender no debate among scientists about fundamental mechanisms of the universe. It generates no empirical predictions that can be used to test it. It is taken to be irrefutable. And it assumes a priori that there can be no evidence that will ever falsify it.

But that's not what the evidence shows!

Al Gore was taking temperature and CO2 readings 3 million years ago? He did invent the internet, so anything is possible..

You have to be kidding for a second I thought you were seriouse.

What makes you assume I'm NOT serious ... ? 'Creationism' is a FRAUD. And it has NO 'science' to support its asinine claims.

Liberty University's sports teams are called the FLAMES .

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Evolution is obvious to those who have their own minds...or are like me with hair on their back...



Ardipithecus: Discovering Ardi: How Ardi Walked

Clues from Ardi's pelvis indicate she walked upright on two legs, not on four like chimpanzees. Want to learn more about Ardi?

http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/ardipithecus/

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Funny, carbon dating is only okay if it's used for that shroud rag thing.

i once had a creationist tell me they thought dinosaur fossils were "faked" using pig bones...

i've been to the museum in ky and it's as sad as the theeory of evolution itself and christian creationists combined.
kind of ironic the only religious people that don't believe the earth is only 5000 years old are us big boogeyman muslims

I went to the creation museum because I was bored and its only an hour away. And I wanted to see dinosaurs damnit! Or Atleast Jesus riding a brontosaurus like a horse. No such luck on both fronts.

Seriously tho, why do people care what people believe happened before we were all born? Nobody living today was there with dinosaurs to say for a fact that humans existed with them. So who knows really?

As I read all the insults from the darwins people who claim to of evoled from the rocks I find that I believe them . They did evole from rocks . why else would they be so blind to the start of life for the rest of us .when you say your family started from 2 rocks slaming togeather I think your right . Mine did not and i know there is a god and he watchs out for me . he warns me when i am in danger and advises me in all things . and its my fault when i miss his warnings . and i also know hes not santa clause he gives advice not toys . and it is your choice in all things you do .