A Creationist Just Made a Huge Scientific Discovery… Really!

[mr blur]

Edgar Nernberg was excavating ground for his company in order to build a new home in Calgary, Alberta when he realized he was looking at something special:



The unearthing was astounding, as five nearly perfect fish fossil specimens were concealed in a block of sandstone in the Paskapoo Formation, a roughly 60-million-year-old rock formation that underlies Calgary.

This latest find will allow researchers to appreciate and learn more about a time period following a major mass extinction that occurred around 66 million years ago that killed off 75 per cent of species, including the dinosaurs.

It’s an astonishing discovery that’s being hailed as one of the “most important fossil finds in decades.” Nernberg knew that he needed to bring in some professionals so he alerted paleontologist Darla Zelenitsky, who works at the University of Calgary. Her team plans to clean up the fossils, analyze them, and put them on display.

Even more interesting is that Nernberg is a hard-core Creationist. He sits on the board of the Big Valley Creation Science Museum (whose website, I’m pretty sure, is older than their conception of the age of the universe).

Did the discovery change his mind at all?

“No, it hasn’t changed my mind. We all have the same evidence, and it’s just a matter of how you interpret it,” says Nernberg.

…

You couldn't make it up...

Found at Friendly Atheist

[marym625]

1. What a bizarre thing

Almost seems unfair he found it

[mountain grammy]

2. I really do hate that this guy found that fossil..

and doesn't understand the awesomeness of his discovery. Poor, stupid man.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

3. Naw. Or rather, Gnaw.

Think about it. This kerfluffle will create the tiniest, tinnyest, touch of insecurity in those few working brain cells that populate the vast, dark, recesses of his mostly empty skull. Scientists will call and interview him, curious sorts will thank him, and normal people will laugh at his insane irrational beliefs. How is any of that a bad thing? Eventually, he will realize just how foolish he has been.

Over time, that gnawing sensation will change his ridiculous faith in fairy tales. It may take time, but it will happen.

[mountain grammy]

8. Yeah, I think he's feeling the gnaw..

that's why he turned it in.. as I've been reminded.

[Warpy]

4. He wasn't stupid enough to destroy it immediately

the way a lot of them are. He was smart enough to call in a paleontologist.

For that reason, it's OK that he found it. He can stupidly interpret it to fit his Bronze Age holy book all he wants to. The experts in the field have it now and it will add to the body of knowledge for the rest of us who have progressed beyond the Bronze Age.

IOW, I don't mind this guy at all, he can be as crazy as he wants to be. He didn't fuck it up for the rest of us, and for that he deserves respect and gratitude.

[AlbertCat]

5. He can stupidly interpret it to fit his Bronze Age holy book all he wants to

Or at least pretend to... so he has standing in the society he (inexplicably) associates with.


I think many people do this: believe hard when asked.... don't think twice about it when not asked. It's only important when it effects his social standing among fellow autophobes.

That "belief in belief" thing Daniel Dennet talks about.


He wouldn't have been so aware of the possible significance at the time he discovered them....to call a paleontologist.... if he was as ignorant as he pretends (even to himself) to be.

[Warpy]

6. Exactly, which is why I'll cut this guy a lot of slack

even if he decided the bones were at the bottom of a bunch of sandstone because it was a heavy fish and sank faster than the stuff near the surface (not kidding about this, it's why dinosaurs are farther down, they sank faster).

He gave people who actually know something a crack at it. Good for him.

[mountain grammy]

7. That crossed my mind too.. and it's a good point.

I am grateful he didn't destroy it.

[Baitball Blogger]

11. Reminds me of that lotto commercial when the numbers keep turning up on the

guy's walk to the store to buy lotto numbers. Then the last clue comes to him as he's entering the story when a sign falls in his hands with the same numbers that have been turning up all along. He looks down and, seeing the numbers upside down, he asks for lotto tickets that are reverse from the correct number.

[Warren Stupidity]

9. I've heard right here that we should consider his interpretation just as valid as any other.

Only for some reason when it comes to creationist idiocy, that doctrine does not apply.

[progressoid]

10. A fossil put there by Satan!

http://www.happletea.com/comic/the-devils-handiwork/

[Cartoonist]

12. This proves

That the story of the fishes and loaves is true. They had so many that six were left over.

[Yorktown]

13. I heard a guy say the Grand Canyon was proof of a young earth and flood.

For some odd reason, I skipped listening to his rationale.