The cure for cults that want to deny others their freedom of speech is more freedom of speech -- Fredric Rice

<heh> This is a good one. At times a new bizarrely shaped brick is added to the cult's crumbeling foundation of ignorance to try to shore up a sagging and outdated belief system and this is one of them. They come up rarely, though... and it's a damn shame since it's always refreshing to get new freakishly bizarre claims to debunk - and then there's always the entertainment value which can't be ignored.

Most creationist crap has been around for centuries, passed down from one ignorant savage to another. Probably the only two fairly new claims has been equally amusing and freakish claims about moon dust and this one, the Earth's magnetic field. Let's see what we're being told to believe this time, shall we?

The idiot claim that the Earth's magnetic field some how proves that the Earth is less than 5 billion years old has been soundly debunked and you may review some of those debunkings at:

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The earth's magnetic field is a powerful witness for a world much younger than the billions of years required by evolutionary theories.

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<laughing> And if the Earth's magnetic field could talk, hopefully it would tell this guy he's an idiot. Let's see if we can help scramble this cultists' eggs.

The first amusing claim is that the Earth's magnetic field is decaying at an alarming rate:

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Let's start the story with the most prominent feature of the field today -- its very rapid decay.

The Field Is Decaying Rapidly

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No it's not. This insane claim is debunked solidly all over the Internet and, in fact, it's solidly debunked elsewhere on The Skeptic Tank. The bizarre notion is that because there's fluctuation in the Earth's magnetic field strength and because it's currently on the decreasing side of its cycle, that proves the Christian gods exist and that evolution doesn't happen some how.

How does the cult manage to piece together a claim that doesn't make them sound like they're, well, retarded? Short answer: they don't. No amount of twisting and hammering will build an argument that'll hold together to support such an idiot notion. The result of the attempt is something to be pitied, I must say.

Long answer: Creationists try to pretend that because the Earth's magnetic field is currently on decline in strength, it must have always been on the decline since the Earth was "created." Since science shows the Earth is around five billion years old, the Earth's magnetic field should have expired by now. Yep. And obviously since creationists demand that the magnetic field should be long gone according to "evolutionists" (who say no such thing) evolution couldn't happen since evolution had not enough time to work as it's observed to. Ergo "gods dun it."

It will be interesting to see how the cult explains-away the fact that the Earth's magnetic field is cyclic and that it has actually reversed itself a number of times. Do you think they'll even mention it?

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The average "intensity" of the earth's magnetic field has decreased exponentially by about 7% since its first careful measurement in 1829...

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I'm tempted to point out that the average intelligence of creationists seems to be on an exponential decline but there's no need: it's obvious. The cultist goes on to explain that the Earth's magnetic field is:

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....slowly losing energy because of the electrical resistance of the core..."

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No it's not. The Earth's magnetic field is created by the movement of magma in the Earth's core. Indeed, the ICR cult admits that it's well aware of the fact:

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The free-decay theory contradicts the evolutionary "dynamo" theories which claim that complex processes in the earth's core have converted heat energy into electrical energy, much like an electric generator, maintaining the field for billions of years....

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What stupidity. As usual the ICR cult continues to express its abject ignorance as to what evolution is and what evolution is not. Evolution has nothing to do with the sciences which examines the formation and maintenance of the Earth's magnetic field. That doesn't stop this bizarre cult from trying to claim that the science is some how "evolutionary."

What we find its that when a creationist runs up against something in the sciences which negates one of their pet notions, the thing to do is label it "evolutionary" and hope that their followers -- who already think that evolution doesn't happen some how -- will swallow the latest idiot notion whole simply by labeling it as part of evolution. Bizarre.

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Many intelligent scientists have been working on dynamo theories for over four decades without great success.

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Might as well give up and demand "gods dun it."

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Furthermore, recent measurements of electric currents in the sea floor weigh heavily against the most popular class of dynamo theories.

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In fact an examination of sea floors around techtonic plates that are in seporation shows that the Earth's magnetic field has repeatedly reversed itself over the years. And in fact the very age of the rock samples taken fro sea floors around such volcanic cracks negate utterly the cult's bizarre notions that the Earth is less than 10,000 years old.

The cultist takes a side trip into the magnetic measurements of bricks, pottery, and rocks heated by camp fires, all of which tells us nothing about the cycles the Earth's magnetic fields go through. Let's see if the ICR cult ever gets around to mentioning the fact, shall we?

Ah, yes, after endless stupidity they get around to admiting it. Does that stop them from continueing to try to pretend that the Earth's magnetic field should be gone now? Nope!

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Paleomagnetic data show that while the geologic strata were being laid down, the earth's magnetic field reversed its direction hundreds of times.

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There. That alone should put "paid" to the idiot notion. Sadly, the propaganda piece tries to remove the noose around their neck. Watch as the nut sways gently in the breeze in a section amusingly titled, "A creationist theory for reversals and fluctuations."

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In 1986 I suggested that strong flows of the fluid in the earth's core could produce rapid reversals of the field during and after the Genesis flood....

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Did we miss something? Oh yeah, some how the evidence for this "flood of ignorance" thing is missing. Leaving alone for the moment the fact that there's no evidence for any "flood," this cult doesn't seem to realize what would happen to the surface of the Earth if magma were to be moving so quickly. Convection moves magma... what does the ICR cult offer to explain how massive amounts of magma cold be moved so quickly as to form the history of magnetic reversals as evidenced in sea floor samples? Pixies? Fairies? Oh. "Gods dun it." Right.

Then, to place the other foot along side the other, we get:

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The resulting disturbances in the core would cause the field intensity at the earth's surface to fluctuate up and down for thousands of years afterwards.

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No, actually all life on Earth would have been exterminated and the heat driving such convection movements the cult is imagining would have ripped the old planet up into fragments. Then the cult has to explain where the added energy came from and where it went after it was done. But then of course the cult has to explain where all the extra water came from for their "flood of ignorance" and then explain where it all disappeared to afterward.

So after admitting that magnetic reversals have taken place -- and will take place again in the future -- the ICR cult proceeds to pretend that they all some how occured within a few thousand years. That allows the nutters to glibly proclaim:

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The Field's "Energy" Has Always Decreased

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Which is of course wrong. Amusingly the cult then askes the rhetorical question:

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Are There Any Loopholes in the Logic?

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Um, yes, you forgot to provide evidence for this "flood" of yours.

Any text written by the creationist cult which may be quoted within this criticial examination of the creationist cult is provided according to U. S. Code Title 17 "Fair Use" dictates which may be reviewed at http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html

"You can lie about ICR all you want." -- Jason Daniel Henderson

"Thank you for your permission however there's never any need to.
Creationist propaganda is already self-debunking." -- Fredric L. Rice

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