While listening to a local (Cleveland) Christian radio station this
evening, I heard
about a evangelical Christian ministry called "Halloween Outreach!". Their
web site
is at <http://www.halloweenoutreach.com/>.
During this time of the year, this ministry sells packets of tracts called
"Halloween Outreach! cards" to spread the Gospel (see
http://www.halloweenoutreach.com/cards.html). One card is an
anti-evolution tract from the Institute for Creation Research (ICR). It
has the caption "They're Big, They're Ferocious, and They're real!" and
questions
whether or not dinos are million of years old. According to the ICR,
evolutionary theory has "one slight problem...recently a dinosaur bone was
discovered that still contained blood cells!"
This sounds very bogus, but does anyone at ASA know the real story about
this "fossil evidence" for a young earth?
The tract concludes with "Where did life begin? Scientists point to a
giant explosion, and millions of years of evolution. Christians hold to
the biblical account that God personally created the animals... that we
know today." This implies that young-earth creationism is necessary for
Christian faith and that it is impossible for Christians to accept either
the Big Bang, evolution, or a multi-billion-year-old earth. Since the ICR
is so successful propagating this nonsense, it is no wonder that many
scientifically-literate people have a difficult time with Christianity.
Dale Stalnaker
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