The Cincinnati Post |
Editorial Page
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Friday, September 9, 1998
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| David Johnston, welcome to the ranks of the scientifically illiterate
[Facts and theories, Sept 4, 1998].
Not all radioactive dating require estimating initial concentrations. Some do, but several different radioactive decay series are commonly used. When all measurements agree scientists consider the age to have a high degree of reliability. There are methods that do not require estimating (potassium-argon method using crystalline minerals and fission-track dating). Some are self-calibrating (rubidium-strontium method). Most significantly, there is agreement between the range of methods. You are a victim of deception by omission. Mineral concentrations in seawater aren’t used to determine age, because the oceans are not closed systems. Highly reactive elements readily precipitate with other compounds rather than remaining in solution. Others are taken up constantly in microscopic plants and animals where they enter the food chain. What these measurements actually reflect are "residence times" of various minerals in seawater. The residence time for sodium is 260 million years. Your claim is deception by misrepresentation. |
The decay of the earth’s magnetic field isn’t
used to determine age because it reverses itself every several thousand
years, and is constantly renewed by the motion of the Earth’s liquid core.
We know this because molten rock is partly magnetized by the Earth’s magnetic
field when it cools. Paleomagnetism studies this phenomenon. This is another
deception by omission.
The mere fact that Humanists, like many Catholics, Jews, and Protestants, accept evolution does not make it religion. Humanists accept that the earth moves, while the Christian bible repeatedly says it is immovable (I Chronicles 16:30, Psalm 93:1, 96:10, 104:5). By your logic this means that heliocentrism is the "religion of secular Humanism"! If you examine any creationist argument in detail, you discover that fundamentalist leaders take advantage of scientific illiteracy and "bear false witness" with arguments designed to confuse, mislead, and misinform. This indicates that creationism is poor science, and poor religion as well. Todd Brennan, Clifton |
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