Spring Break
My chat with Dr. Russell Humphreys
Trevor Sides
Issue date: 2/22/07 Section: Opinion
SIDES: Are you the exception or the rule as far as credible creation scientists go?
HUMPHREYS: I'm the rule. There are 10,000 creationist scientists in the United States who are openly creationist, and there's 10-times that number of closet-creationists. There are thousands more open creationists in different countries. Creationism is an international movement now, and it's been spreading over last few decades. We think we're doing a good job. It's an exciting time to be a creationist. I think we're doing terrific science and certainly having a lot of fun.
SIDES: Why are there so many closet-creationists?
HUMPHREYS: In any science department, if you confess if you're a creationist, you're kicked out unless you have tenure. If you do have tenure you're isolated and sidelined from everything. They don't tolerate anything outside their paradigm.
I've talked to scientists who can't look at evidence contradicting evolution anymore because it will get them into trouble with those in authority over them. For many of them, science is a game you play to gain advancement and fame by your peers - it's not for the truth. The few who do search for the truth either have to be very well established so they can buck the trend or else the evolutionary establishment tries to marginalize them.
SIDES: One of your major pieces of work at ICR is the Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth, or, RATE project, which found the earth to be only thousands of years old and not billions of years old. But I've talked to geology professors who think the RATE project's science is just terrible. Do they say that because they disagree with you on an ideological level or is it because your science really is junk?
HUMPHREYS: A few years ago, Brent Dalrymple - an expert on potassium argon dating - during a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, said, "If those guys on the RATE project are right, then they deserve Nobel prizes, but they're not right because they're creationists." Our conclusion wasn't what he liked so he thought something was wrong with it. It is a hugely ideological thing. The science that we did is first class.
SIDES: How would you encourage skeptics of creationism to come listen to you tonight?
HUMPHREYS: My talk tonight is loaded with facts - scientific facts they haven't heard before. If they want their decisions based on facts they should get all the facts. Over 90 percent of the facts from the ways you can date the earth give you a date much less than billions of years. The majority of facts that they don't know are in favor of a young earth.
SIDES: Dr. Humphreys, it's been a pleasure. I look forward to your presentation tonight.
HUMPHREYS: This was fun, Trevor. Thank you.
Trevor Sides is a senior speech communication major. His column appears every Thursday in the Collegian. Replies and feedback can be sent to letters@collegian.com.
HUMPHREYS: I'm the rule. There are 10,000 creationist scientists in the United States who are openly creationist, and there's 10-times that number of closet-creationists. There are thousands more open creationists in different countries. Creationism is an international movement now, and it's been spreading over last few decades. We think we're doing a good job. It's an exciting time to be a creationist. I think we're doing terrific science and certainly having a lot of fun.
SIDES: Why are there so many closet-creationists?
HUMPHREYS: In any science department, if you confess if you're a creationist, you're kicked out unless you have tenure. If you do have tenure you're isolated and sidelined from everything. They don't tolerate anything outside their paradigm.
I've talked to scientists who can't look at evidence contradicting evolution anymore because it will get them into trouble with those in authority over them. For many of them, science is a game you play to gain advancement and fame by your peers - it's not for the truth. The few who do search for the truth either have to be very well established so they can buck the trend or else the evolutionary establishment tries to marginalize them.
SIDES: One of your major pieces of work at ICR is the Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth, or, RATE project, which found the earth to be only thousands of years old and not billions of years old. But I've talked to geology professors who think the RATE project's science is just terrible. Do they say that because they disagree with you on an ideological level or is it because your science really is junk?
HUMPHREYS: A few years ago, Brent Dalrymple - an expert on potassium argon dating - during a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, said, "If those guys on the RATE project are right, then they deserve Nobel prizes, but they're not right because they're creationists." Our conclusion wasn't what he liked so he thought something was wrong with it. It is a hugely ideological thing. The science that we did is first class.
SIDES: How would you encourage skeptics of creationism to come listen to you tonight?
HUMPHREYS: My talk tonight is loaded with facts - scientific facts they haven't heard before. If they want their decisions based on facts they should get all the facts. Over 90 percent of the facts from the ways you can date the earth give you a date much less than billions of years. The majority of facts that they don't know are in favor of a young earth.
SIDES: Dr. Humphreys, it's been a pleasure. I look forward to your presentation tonight.
HUMPHREYS: This was fun, Trevor. Thank you.
Trevor Sides is a senior speech communication major. His column appears every Thursday in the Collegian. Replies and feedback can be sent to letters@collegian.com.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Roy Smith
posted 2/22/07 @ 6:01 AM MST
Thank you Trevor. This was very well done. I only hope the presentation by Dr Humphreys is well received by students and professors of the school. He has facts that need to be exposed to minds seeking truth. (Continued…)
Post a Comment