This is an open letter which is simultaneously sent to you and posted to the
evolution listserver at Calvin College.
You recently sent me e-mail, with the subject line "Do the right thing!" in
which you complained about my post on Friday, October 2 to the evolution listserver
(http://www.calvin.edu/archive/evolution/199810/0044.html). In my post I criticized
your use of data in your article published as an ICR Impact Number 242 titled "The
Earth's Magnetic Field is Young" (http://www.icr.org/pubs/imp/imp-242.htm).
In your letter, which I believe you also sent to Glenn Morton, you strongly
defended your use of data and stated that I was the one in error by criticizing
you. Sir, I have in front of me, in addition to your Impact 242 article, copies
of the following papers:
Humphreys, D.R. 1984. The creation of planetary magnetic fields. Creation Science
Research Quarterly 21, 140-149.
Humphreys, D.R. 1986. Reversals of the Earth's magnetic field during the Genesis
flood. Proceedings of the First International Conference on Creationism 2, 113-126.
Humphreys, D.R. 1988. Has the Earth's magnetic field Ever flipped? Creation Science
Research Quarterly 25, 130-137.
Humphreys, D.R. 1990. Physical mechanism for reversals of the Earth's magnetic field
during the flood. Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Creationism
2, 129-142.
I also have a copy of "The Earth's Magnetic Field: It's History, Origin, and
Planetary Perspective" by R.T. Merrill and M.W. McElhinny (1983, Academic Press)
which you referenced in your Impact article and, in addition, I have numerous
unpublished critiques of your work from various sources (e.g. the Talk Origins
listserver).
I say this to let you know that I am not criticizing your work out of ignorance.
While not a physicist or geophysicist, I am a geologist and, as such, I believe I
have a proper appreciation for the correct way to handle and present scientific
data. I stand by my statement that you have handled data in a sloppy and misleading
manner in your published work on how the Earth's magnetic field supports a young-earth,
global-flood model.
I am disappointed by the fact that someone on this list obviously sent you the
relevant posts, you see fit to criticize them privately via e-mail, yet you (and
most well-known young-earth creationists) do not participate in defending your
ideas in public forums against your peers such as this.
Dr. Humphreys, if you would like to debate your handling of data which resulted in
the creation of Figure 1 in Impact 242, I am happy to do so but ONLY in a public
forum such as the evolution listserver. To do so otherwise would be a waste of
my time and of little value to those who may be wondering what to think about this
issue. To subscribe, simply send e-mail to majordomo@calvin.edu with the message
"subscribe evolution" (without the quotation marks) in the body of the e-mail message
and we'll talk.
So, sir, are you willing to publicly defend your research or not? While I did not
share your first e-mail to me with anyone (I do not post private e-mails to public
forums without permission), I would like to inform you that any reply, private or
public, to this letter will be shared with the evolution listserver. Thanks for your
time.
- Steve.
-- Steven H. Schimmrich, Assistant Professor of Geology Department of Geology, Geography, and Environmental Studies Calvin College, 3201 Burton Street SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546 sschimmr@calvin.edu (office), schimmri@earthlink.net (home) 616-957-7053 (voice mail), 616-957-6501 (fax) http://home.earthlink.net/~schimmrich/