It is amazing to me that of all the editorials I have written about unfounded or harmful religious claims, it was ridiculing the absurd claims of dinosaurs and humans co-existing that generated the most excited replies. I got less heat for questioning the power of prayer.
Sahawneh admits there is no evidence that dinosaurs ever lived with humans. End of story. He knows Ken Ham’s and others Creationist’s claims are about T-rexes and velociraptors, etc. not descendants of dinosaurs like crocodiles or modern birds. As far as Ken Ham’s character, he may be a great guy, good to his grandkids and such but whether he is a wonderful person or a scoundrel has no bearing on the old and ridiculous and clownish Creationist claim that dinosaurs and humans ever lived together. There is no evidence for that fantasy and mountains of evidence against its possibility
Mr. Sahawneh obviously neglected to take advantage of the fine education he could have received from Murray State’s biology department. Mr. Looy is upset about an attack on believers of a literal interpretation of Genesis.
Modern science refutes Genesis’ claims, that is, myths that were mostly borrowed from other cultures. The Bible is not a science book. The motionless earth at the center of the universe described in the opening verses is completely wrong. The flood myth didn’t happen. The Adam and Eve story is refuted by modern genetics. The Tower of Babel story is refuted by modern linguistics. Giants never walked the earth and humans never lived hundreds of years. The majority of Christians all over the world who use the Bible as a spiritual guide in some way realize these myths may contain some important metaphorical meaning for them, but not literal truth.
Lying to our children about absurd interpretations of those myths will continue to be challenged. Parading pseudoscience under the banner of faith no longer gets a free pass.
Letter by William Zingrone, assistant professor of psychology.