>There is a contradiction when Norm talks about,
>
>>the range of hypotheses that don't
>>contradict natural data once one sets aside some of the usual restrictions of
>>science, there are still some possibilities open for rational
>>consideration in
>>this arena of young earth creation.
>
>Doesn't the notion of a young earth contradict a good deal of "natural data"?
A number of years ago I agreed with Norm, that it was possible to
rationally interpret the evidence and arrive at a young earth. But I was
willing to consider the other side. I had already read what the young-earth
creationists had to say on the subject, so I started reading what
conventional geologists had to say. What I found was that the conventional
geologists have a number of means for dating geologic strata, and that
there is a great deal of agreement among the various methods. Furthermore,
their science seems to be sound. If there had been only one or two dating
methods, and they had given inconsistent results, or it I had been able to
identify carelessness on the part of the geoologists, it would have been
easy to dismiss their view as speculation. But sadly the carelessness
seems to be on the young-earth side. Brent Dalrymple, a USGS geologist,
has reviewed the pronouncements of the young-earth creationists extensively
and shown where they are in error. In a number of cases when you read his
refutations, you have to wonder whether the young-earth creationists are
being merely careless or actually dishonest. I have an old, approximately
70 page analysis by Dalrymple that I will send by snail mail to anyone
interested. This material may be published in Dalrymple's book, "The age
of the earth," which came out a few years ago. It costs a couple dollars
to send Dalrymple's material, so please don't ask for it unless you intend
to read it.
If anyone in the group has read Dalrymple's book and can tell me whether
the analysis of creationist claims material is in it, I would be very
appreciative. Another good source of information about how geologists
correlate material from a variety of observations to estimate the age of
the earth may be found in Davis Young's book, "Christianity and the age of
the earth," from Artisan Sales, Thousand Oaks, CA.
-Bill