Re: speed of light

mortongr@flash.net
Fri, 12 Nov 1999 06:07:37 +0000

At 10:37 PM 11/11/1999 CT, jeff witters wrote:
>I have been carrying on a discussion with a YEC friend who is
>all excited about a book he is reading presently. A part of
>the book apparently gives an explanation regarding how the
>speed of light is slowing down from previously much higher
>speeds, and this somehow vindicates the YEC position.
>
>A fellow named Barry Setterfield is the progenitor of this
>hypothesis, and is apparently a YEC. I am a TE of sorts and
>so I had to wonder how I had escaped seeing the headlines
>covering this in Science or Nature. My two semesters of
>college physics are not much help here. Does "Setterfield"
>ring any bells out there? Is he up a dry creek sans paddle
>or canoe, or should I get ready to eat my TE hat?
>
>This fellow may be old news, but my only association with
>the name was "left field" and that is not much to carry an
>intelligent discussion. Any help would be appreciated.

Point your friend to an article in the Creation Research Soc. Quarterly.

Morton, G. R., Slusher, H. S., Bartman, R. C., and Barnes, T. G., (1983).
Comments on the Velocity of Light.
Creation Research Society Quarterly. 20:63-65.

Summary: This is a critique of Barry Setterfield's suggestion that the
speed of light had decreased. If his formulation of the changes were true,
then there should have been 417 days per year at the time of Christ and the
earth would have been melted when God created Adam due to the tremendous
heat generated by the extremely rapid radioactive decay during the creation
week.

It is usually good to point people to creationist material that criticizes
their wild ideas. They beleive creationists they don't believe
evolutionists. Tom Barns and Harold Slusher are well know creationists.
glenn

Foundation, Fall and Flood
Adam, Apes and Anthropology
http://www.flash.net/~mortongr/dmd.htm

Lots of information on creation/evolution