To the Editor:
I was recently privileged enough to spend a few days with my son and daughter on a field trip. We started the trip with a visit to the science centre in Calgary and then went on to the world famous Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller. I was amazed as were the kids at the scientific advancements and of course the awesome dinosaurs.
I, like many others, view the facilitators of these programs as experts in their respective fields, and in no way want to disrespect any of their teachings, but I couldn’t help but wonder how we as parents and teachers seem to turn a blind eye to some teachings that are just plain ridiculous. The one that got me thinking the most was how science is using the geological sediment layers as a way to measure the age of the Earth. As one child asked, “How do you know?”
The child was given the iridium theory. A meteor hit the earth several million years ago in the area we currently know as the Gulf of Mexico, and scattered a metal known as iridium in the crust layer known as the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary, killing the dinosaurs and, of course, all life as we know it had to start over from scratch.
The facilitator then passed around a rock with iridium in it, and most kids passed it on to the next person without a thought until it got back to the facilitator. Many parents are busy (including myself) and don’t have time to question what the system is teaching, but I wasn’t buying the theory (which is taught like a fact).
Some quick facts on iridium: It is the second-most dense metal on Earth, it is mined mostly in South Africa, Canada and Russia (very little, if any, in Mexico), it is very rare and seems to be most abundant in meteors and asteroids, it is obtained commercially as a byproduct from nickel and copper mining and processing, and it has a very high melting point and is therefore great in spark plugs.
My two-part question, which I didn’t get to ask in Drumheller (because I am not an expert in minerals, and evidently neither is the paleontologist) is this: If iridium is only found in meteors and settled in the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary 65 million years ago, why does most of the mining not take place near the Gulf of Mexico because of the dense fallout of the heavy metal? Why do the fossil records show it in the polystrate forests running through the sediment layers, including that which is said to be 65 millions years old?
I am trying to be reasonable, but I am tired of the cramming of poor evidence to try and prove that dinosaurs were here millions of years ago, and that I am somehow related to a snake. Every creature, including dinosaurs, is creatively and wonderfully made, and when they find human remains among the fossil records it is always dismissed with another theory. I know for many I am foolish for believing the lies found in the Bible. But for those who think I’m foolish, do you not see the absurd nature with which we are being indoctrinated? Also, for those who think that I am foolish, check out some things with logical thinking (research the hydroplate theory) and for those who are not scared to open a Bible, read Job chapter 40.
Creston