Bartholomew's Notes

British Christian website Premier reports on the latest palaeontology news:

Dinosars died in Noah’s flood, claim Americans

Americans in South Dakota believe they’ve found proof dinosars [sic] perished in Noah’s flood.

South Dakota is known as a large open air dinosar cementary [sic] with bones easily spotted sticking through the soil.

Geological data points to the animals sudden deaths and that they died in a flood, which the group believes disproves Darwins [sic] theory of evolution.

But who are these “Americans”? A couple of weeks ago the Daily Telegraph reported:

Countless dinosaur bones lie buried in the rocks of South Dakota but the Christians excavating one remote cliff-face were digging not just for reptilian vertebrae but for the hand of God.

With screwdrivers, hammers and shaving brushes for tools, the group was seeking and, as far as it was concerned, unearthed proof that the animals perished not millions of years ago but in Noah’s Flood circa 2300 BC.

The group was led by Russ McGlenn, “self-styled amateur archaeologist and palaeontologist and head of Adventure Safaris”.

“Self-styled” is perhaps the most appropriate label. According to his Adventure Safaris website, he is:

a theology major, Christian Ed minor, game inventor, Creation Science teacher, explorer, dinosaur hunter, photographer, and national camp, school, and seminar speaker.

Although he does have one proper qualification:

His Native American heritage gives him a unique background in hunting for clues to dinosaurs living in North America.

His archaeological record is also most impressive:

He has also uncovered evidence of various cultures living here doing God’s mission work in North America before Columbus. He has searched Native American records and archeology sites to confirm these claims.

But McGlenn’s learning is wider than just these two fields. In his 2003 Adventure Safaris Year End Report, he ekes out the two pages of it with Biblical scholarship and geopolitical analysis:

It is interesting to note that in Daniel’s time, the stronghold of evil, that is Satan, was Persia, present day Iraq and Iran.

By our armies attacking this stronghold, we pray that the heart of terrorism will be broken.

He then turns to atomic physics:

the New Spinning Ring Model of the Atom fits classical science, is consistent with a biblical world view, and has all cause and effect properties based on 13 measurements of the electron.

Curiously, however, rather than attempting to get peer-reviewed articles from his extensive researches, McGlenn shares his insights mostly with homeschoolers around Minnesota, and now California. Before his move there, his church was the Meadow Creek Church in Minnesota, an independent church that recognises “the Biblical role of fathers as spiritual leaders”.

McGlenn’s South Dakota researches took place on a ranch owned by Edward Schmidt, who runs the Grand River Museum, devoted to Creationism. Their site points out that:

Paleontologists and archaeologists and many others in the science field receive a Ph.D. A doctor of Philosophy. Almost exclusively naturalist philosophy. This is the predominant bias among the scientists.

Numerous arguments in favour of Creationism and the Bible follow, such as:

The Bible says that about 4500 years ago there was a flood. Only eight people survived. By applying a 1.5% growth rate which is far less than we see now, and taking into account famine and war and such we could achieve about six billion people in 4500 years from a total of 4 couples. Our population on this planet is a little over six billion at last census.

Plus, bizarrely drawing from Graham Hancock (although not named – by the way, see this BBC report on Hancock’s ideas):

Historians are amazed that there seems to be no gradual progression in the cultures of the past. The histories of Sunteria [sic], Babylonia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, Aztec, Maya, and many others show just the opposite…High culture and knowledge in the beginning and steadily descending downward. Another example is the mysteries of the Great Pyramid in Egypt…Pyramids and other megalithic structures all over the world show a supreme intelligence somewhere in antiquity. This also shows a knowledge of the earth, its size, relationship to other planets, stars the moon and sun. Also there is much evidence of a worldwide maritime culture that modem [sic] scientists are refusing to acknowledge.

Culture “descending downward”, eh? Still, I must confess I have seen some evidence for such a process of a descending culture. Indeed, McGlenn and Schmidt have convinced me of it…

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