Creative Science

An Australian geologist, John Mackay, who claims to be engaged in finding scientific proof that creationism is true, is to be let loose on various British educational establishments. Among the beneficiaries of his guidance will be a secondary school in Lancashire, which is hiding its light under a bushel "to protect staff and pupils from unwelcome attention", education no longer being a matter of public concern in Britain. According to Mackay's UK spokesman, the charmingly named Randall Hardy, Mackay "was converted by reading a book on geology written by an atheist which made particular fun of the biblical position. From this, he started reading the Bible and was totally convinced by it." This delight in clear thinking shows in Mr Hardy's demolition of the evolutionary arguments of the evil atheists, which "do not come from pure science but from their interpretation of the evidence in order to back their beliefs." Mackay's organisation, Creation Research, steers clear of any such intellectual sleight of hand. "FLOOD DEPOSITED TRICERATOPS FOR SURE", its Research Dinosaur Page proclaims, "as we find fossil figs, and sequoia leaves, plus fossil trees mostly laid down NW-SE" garnishing the remains of a Triceratops dinosaur discovered in Montana. "Figs and sequoia don’t grow together today, so it indicates the water which deposited the material has collected across a wide area," the page argues, which certainly seems to settle the matter. Not only that, but "Since figs and sequoia are still here, the evidence is no help to evolution either", the logic of which is, I fear, too subtle for me.