One important factor has been

left out in the calculation: natural disasters. For example, the eruption

of Mt. St. Helens in 1982 created a 1/40 scale model of the Grand Canyon,

complete with many distinct layers. If you look at this smaller canyon,

it would seem to have taken hundreds of thousands to millions of years

to form by the slow process of erosion; but actually, it took just hours

to form. We know this because scientists observed this happening. This

is true science.

3. Mr. Duran states, "All

of the longtime measurement methods yield the fact that the Earth is extremely

old." Actually, more than 90 percent of all dating methods give dates

far younger than millions of years. Many dating methods (especially the

potassium-argon, or K-Ar) are extremely unreliable because they give inaccurate

dates for items of known age.

For example, the Mt. St. Helens

eruption in 1986 formed a rock that was "dated" by using the

K-Ar method to be 350,000 (plus or minus 50,000) years old. Also, dating

results can vary wildly (by much, much more than experimental error).

For instance, some wood buried by a basalt lava flow was dated by the

radiocarbon method to be about 45,000 years old; however, the basalt rock

layer was dated to be approximately 45 million years old by the K-Ar method!

If dating methods don't give accurate dates for items of known age and

don't agree with each other, why should we put so much trust in them for

items of unknown age?

4. Mr. Duran dogmatically says,

"Any theory that contradicts this fact [old age of the earth] is

incorrect...." I guess that he knows everything about science, and

he has observed everything since the beginning.

5. Mr. Duran considers the

Bible and creationism to be "mythology." The Bible is not a

science book, but when it discusses such matters, it is 100 percent accurate.

Please consider the following scientific facts that are in the Bible (all

of the references come from the KJV, published in 1611 while modern science

was still in its infancy): Isaiah 40:22, Job 26:7 the earth is a sphere

which is hung upon nothing; Job 36:27-28, Ecclesiastes 1:7, Amos 5:8 the

water cycle; Isaiah 51:6, Psalm 102:26 the second law of thermodynamics;

Psalm 8:8 ocean currents; Leviticus 17:11 blood is vital for life; Hebrews

11:3 the universe is composed of invisible things (atoms); Job 22:12,

Genesis 15:5 and 22:7, Jeremiah 33:22 the stars are innumerable and are

extremely distant from the earth; Ecclesiastes 1:6 wind currents; Job

38:12 and 14 the earth rotates on its axis; and Genesis 2:7 and 3:19,

Psalm 103:14 people are composed of the same elements as the earth. Many

people have set out to disprove the accuracy of the Bible, but they have

found out that it is the infallible Word of God.

6. Mr. Duran says, "Natural

selection causes plants and animals to vary as the environment, climate,

population density, and so forth changes." I believe that Mr. Duran

is "ignorant" of what natural selection really is. Simply, it

is the process of removing weak or less desirable characteristics and

making strong or more desirable characteristics more prominent.

For an example of natural selection

consider this scenario: long- and shorthaired dogs both live in a cold

climate. Because the long-haired dogs are able to stay warmer in that

cold climate, they survive but the shorthaired dogs die out or have to

move to a warmer climate. This is not evolution because there is no new

information added to the genes, a process essential for evolution to be

true (simple organisms evolving to complex ones). Quite the opposite,

genetics does not verify evolution as Mr. Duran claims; it confirms the

loss of information.

7. "Can complex designs

[the eye] come into being without a designer? The answer turns out to

be yes..." asserts Mr. Duran. The eye is a very complex organ, and

all of the parts of the eye have to work together perfectly, or it is

absolutely useless. Unless the eye fully and completely evolved in just

a few generations, natural selection, as proposed by evolutionists, would

remove the eye because it would be useless in transitional stages. This

is a loss of information, the exact opposite of evolution.

8. "Evolution and creationism

are both equally based on faith. However, evolution, as a science, must

adhere to methods of proof and refutation which creationism ignores. Evolution,

as a branch of science...." Mr. Duran is correct that evolution and

creationism are both based upon faith; but once again, it appears that

he is "ignorant" of science. Neither evolution nor creation

can be proved because no one was there to see the beginning, nor can it

be repeated. And again, Mr. Duran shows that he is "ignorant"

of true science because he refers to evolution as "science."

9. Once again, Mr. Duran throws

logic out the door when he says, "Creationism ... contradicts ...

evolution." Just because the theory of creationism contradicts the

theory of evolution, it does not automatically make creationism wrong.

Since both are theories, evolution could be completely wrong. Mr. Duran

believes that he is "more reasoned, [and] less emotional," but

he really is not. He has a strong faith in evolution, just as I have a

strong faith in creationism. Anything that disagrees with his faith in

evolution, he labels as "intellectual fraud."

10. Finally, I would like to

set straight the myth that Cobb County wants to teach creationism. Once

again, I believe that Mr. Duran is "ignorant" of the issue.

The Cobb County Board of Education simply wants to put this disclaimer

sticker on the books: "This textbook contains material on evolution.

Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things.

This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully,

and critically considered."

If evolution were as true as

Mr. Duran believes, why would it be wrong to teach the "intellectual

fraud" of creationism? When people don't want to teach the "pro[s]"

and "con[s]" of evolution, they are being intolerant of students'

beliefs and their First Amendment rights.

Jeremy Conley

Peachtree City