Evolutionists Celebrate World's 6000th Birthday ... NOT! October 14, 1996

The Earth's first ever millennial birthday party will be held at 8 p.m. on October 23, 1996, at the Center for Inquiry in Amherst, New York. The mock celebration of the historic non-event will feature guest appearances by "Charles Darwin" and "Noah" along with a globe-shaped birthday cake with a candle for each millennium. The evening's light-hearted entertainment will be combined with a more serious message, given by anthropologist Professor H.James Birx.

Birx, a professor of anthropology at Canisius College, New York, will explain why Ussher's Biblical world-view was replaced by the naturalistic theory of evolution. He will also examine current attempts to replace education about evolution with creationist teaching in American schools. Professor Birx is the author of many books on evolution, including Interpreting Evolution (Prometheus Books, 1991,) and is an expert on the historic development of, and competition among, theories of evolution and creation.

Bishop Ussher's claim for the exact day for the "Creation of the World" was based on detailed study of the Old Testament, adding up the life spans of the Patriarchs and the ages at which they "begat" their successors. The overwhelming evidence available from scientific fields including geology, biology, paleontology, genetics, anthropology, archaeology and cosmology, reveal that 6000 years ago human civilizations were already flourishing and show the Earth to be at least 4- 5 billion years old.

But 1 in 5 Americans still prefer Bishop Ussher's methods and conclusions to those of modern science. A recent independent survey for Free Inquiry magazine showed that 19.1% of Americans believe that the world was created by God between 5000 and 10,000 years ago (the poll had only a 2.53% margin of error.) Moreover, the creationist movement is gaining increasing political power.

A national watch-dog group, People for the American Way (PFAW), recently highlighted the growing influence of Biblical creationists. More than a quarter of the Republican state party platforms they examined included creationist planks (6 states out of 22.) An additional five states have introduced creationist legislation this year.

The Center for Inquiry is the international headquarters of the Council for Secular Humanism (publisher of Free Inquiry magazine) and the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP, publisher of Skeptical Inquirer.) The meeting is organized by the "Friends of the Center for Inquiry." The "Birth-of-the-Earth-Day Party" and Professor Birx's talk on the "Fall of the House of Ussher" are free and open to the public.

Related Information

• Books:
  • Interpreting Evolution

• Council for Secular Humanism
  • Free Inquiry

• People for the American Way

• talk.origins newsgroup
• Talk.Origins Archive
• National Center for Science Education
• The Evolutionary Tales by Ronald L. Ecker
• Books by Charles Darwin
• No Answers in Genesis!

Feedback | Reverse links for this page | Translate this page