ABC news reports creationist assessment of Ardi

by | posted in: Fossils | 6

I found this report by Russell Goldman on 7 October 2009 on the ABC news in the US incredibly interesting. I can’t remember a mainstream news channel reporting the creationist view on a major fossil find as part of its regular news.

Creationists Say Science and Bible Disprove ‘Ardi’ Fossil Is Evidence of Evolution
Discovery of 4.4 Million-Year-Old Fossil Does Not Shake Creationists’ Faith

Sometimes an ape is a 4.4 million-year-old fossil that sheds light on the evolutionary origins of human beings, and sometimes… an ape is just an ape.

In the case of “Ardi,” the ape-like fossil recently discovered in Ethiopia and already being celebrated as the oldest found relative of modern human beings, the final determination depends on who is doing the talking.

In one camp are evolutionary scientists who last week published and hailed the discovery of an upright walking ape named Ardipithecus ramidus, or “Ardi” for short, who made Ethiopia her home nearly 5 million years ago.

But despite the excitement from the paleontology community, another group of researchers, many of them with advanced degrees in science, are unimpressed by Ardi, who they believe is just another ape — an ape of indeterminate age, they add, and an ape who cannot be an ancestor of modern man for a range of reasons, including one of singular importance: God created man in one day, and evolution is a fallacy.

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Whether this sort of reporting is the start of a new trend or a one-off will be interesting to see.

The report promotes the “evidence vs faith” fallacy: “Fossil Does Not Shake Creationists’ Faith”. I suppose that makes it a bit more newsworthy but some counteracting sound bites would be good: “Evolutionists cling to their faith in spite of evidence”, “More evidence for creation”, etc.

For CMI’s assessment of Ardi see recycled ape-man.

I think it is clear that scientific creation is becoming a world issue so perhaps the evolutionists are feeling threatened. That may be why so many evolutionists have become so zealous in promoting evolution recently, with spates of books, conferences, websites and Darwin-year celebrations. And people on blogs everywhere are debating this issue, too.

“Creation or evolution” is the issue, nationally and personally. What we believe about where we came from and why we are here affects the way we think about every other question in our life—and that has real consequences for our future.

6 Responses

  1. Stutz
    |

    Pro Genesis of Switzerland has just put “95 Theses against the Evolution” on the WEB. See http://www.0095.info
    This is in German language. English will follow soon.
    There is also a thesis concerning the “Ape-Men”.
    Kind regards, Hansruedi Stutz

  2. Jerry Milam
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    I’d like to see the results of an accelerator mass spectrometer Carbon 14 dating test done on the Ardi fossils. My guess – about 4500 years old.

  4. Stephen
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    Wow, I really hate all these <...> fundies. You people are wasting your time by trying to disprove evolution. We all know your arguments, we’ve heard them a thousand times. You are incapable of coming up with new arguments. We, on the other hand, keep coming up with new theories to support evolution. Constantly.

    This article, which I read fully, did absolutely nothing but vainly attempt to bash evolution. There was crap about a 5000 year old earth (by the way, I hear a lot of you guys saying 5000 and a lot saying 6000… which is it? At least we’re consistent), a bunch of mindless claims that she’s just another ape, and not a lot else. So, please, come up with something new or shut up. I am certain that I can speak for all atheists when I tell you that we’re all sick of hearing the exact same argument every single time.

    You accept things because one source tells you to accept them.

    We accept things because MANY sources show us evidence to accept them.

  5. Stephen
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    Hahaha… censorship. Can’t expect any less from fundies who want to limit freedom of speech when it doesn’t suit their purposes…