By: Rod Swift
Re: Creationism under attack

Just when I thought that we'd never hear anything more about the case
involving Professor Dr Ian Plimer and the creationists, up pops this
story in today's "The West Australian", Saturday 5 April 1997, page 3.

Note that to be in the Supreme Court, one must pay a lot of money
for legal representation.  Thousands of dollars a day for Queens'
Counsel representation, or hundreds of dollars a day for
representation by normal counsel.  The court costs are also
hundreds of dollars per day.

It's expected to last 20 court days.  Plimer is stopping at no
expense on this one.  Thank goodness for rational people like
Plimer! :) :)

Rod "...even more reason to go out and buy 'Telling Lies for
God', so that we can all have both a valuable book, and support a
great fighter for free thought and scientific advancement!" Swift :)

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GEOLOGIST OUT TO SINK NOAH'S ARK

MELBOURNE
By Tom Salom
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A GEOLOGIST will being legal action on Monday in a
bid to stop creationists teaching that the Earth is
a mere 6000 years old and that all species emerged
from Noah's Ark.

Professor Ian Plimer will ask the New South Wales
Supreme Court to deem promotions making such claims
in breach of the Trade Practices Act.

Professor Plimer, the head of the School of Earth
Sciences at Melbourne University, will argue that
creationist seminars for profit are deceptive and
misleading.

Professor Plimer contends there is no scientific
evidence to support claims that parts of Noah's Ark
were found in Turkey or that the Earth was created
by God rather than evolving over billions of years.

The hearing, expected to last four weeks, stems from
creationist lectures and seminars by Sydney academic
Allen Roberts.

Professor Plimer claims that Dr Roberts' company,
Ark Search, used reports that parts of the ark were
found in Turkey to underpin seminars detailing how
Noah and his animals survived the great flood.

People paid to attend the seminars and literature
and videos supporting the theories were offered for
sale.

"This fundamentalist codswallop should not be
promoted as science when the relevant tests on the
material in Turkey have not been undertaken,"
Professor Plimer said.

He respected religious beliefs but they should not
be taught as scientific fact.

Dr Roberts, who could not be reached for comment
yesterday, has said that a lens-shaped structure
found near Turkey's Mt Ararat formed part of the
remains of Noah's Ark
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