About the age of the Earth

I was on the bus yesterday and a little kid was running around with a toy T.Rex dinosaur.  A couple of folks across the aisle then got into a discussion about dinosaurs, and about how early humans dealt with them!

Excuse me?  There is no overlap between the time of the dinosaurs (ending about 145 million years ago) and the early humans (beginning about 2.3 million years ago with the rise of the genus Homo.)  Humans have never been around true dinosaurs, despite religious claims to the contrary.

The problem, of course, is that quite a few religious traditions are supporting the false belief that the Earth is no more than 10,000 years old (some even hold that it is only 6,000 or so years old.)  The best estimates of geological science is that the planet is around 4 billion years old, plus or minus 200 million years.

The evidence for the age of the earth is quite abundant, and can be observed and comprehended easily if one cares to look.  The oldest continental rock formations are dated by measuring the mineral contents and comparing the elemental isotopes that are present.  Owing to the way that radioactive decay works on isotopic composition, and knowing about how long it takes for radioactive decay to take place, rather accurate estimates of the age of rocks can be made.  It turns out that the oldest rocks we can find are just short of 3.9 billion years old since they cooled and settled down.

Other estimates of the vast reaches of geologic time can be seen in the various layers of rocks (and their changes) that can be seen in mountains and canyons around the world.  Each separate layer can also be placed in time by measuring its isotopic composition.

So, how can folks justify ignoring the geologic evidence and preserve their beliefs in a young Earth?

First of all, they just deny the validity of the science that measures the time. This denial is just plain ignorance an unreasonable prejudice.  Then they try to apply false history to try and explain the rock layers and other evidence as the result of the Flood of Noah as "revealed" in the Bible; or the misinterpret the evidence as representing events as occurring at the same time as other events. (Such as dinosaur tracks and human footprints occurring together.  Those are not human footprints.)

The most outrageous claim, however, is the belief that the Earth was created old!  That is, the creator made things to look as if they were 4 billion years old, but only about 10,000 years ago.  I'm sorry, but I can't accept this or give it any credence.  It would mean that the creator is downright malicious and deceitful -- not a pair of traits that I find worthy of honoring.

Those who don't yet know me well should be aware that, while I'm not an atheist, I do require that my religion conform to reason and evidence.  So, I reject any claims of "young-earth creationism" as being ridiculous and false.  The reasonable alternative is to accept the evidence of the scientific method as true, and to realize that works by and for humans are not infallible truth.  So the various religious scriptures are just stories that explained the observed world in terms comprehensible to the people of the time they were written and developed.

Welcome to a world of reason and sense.  Enjoy the journey.