(956)   Mon 21 Apr 97 16:27
By: Rod Swift
To: All
Re: More on Plimer!
St:
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@EID:6c68 22958360
@MSGID: 3:690/660.0 335b24e6
More on the Plimer case, kids, from The West Australian,
Friday 16 April 1997, page 22:

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JUDGMENT DAY NEXT IN BIBLICAL BATTLE
Sydney
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"IT IS now the end of the seventh day."  With these words
Justice Ronald Sackville closed the Evolution v Creation
court case.

  It was an appropriate biblical finale to a hearing which
opened alst week with Justice Sackville asking, "Where will
we start?" and a barrister replying, "In the beginning."

  The seventh sitting day was among the most colourful.
Even Mal Colston got a mention.  So did Monty Python and
Galileo.

  Justice Sackville observed that the famous Scopes trial,
with which this has been compared, sat for eight days but
the last day's cross-examination was disallowed and struck
from the record.

  "So we did it in the same time," he said.

  A young hich school teacher, John Thomas Scopes, was tried
in Tennessee in 1925 for violating state legislation by
teaching Darwin's theory of evolution.

  Scopes was found guilty in the so-called Monkey Trial and
fined $100, but the verdict was overturned.

  The twist in the 1997 Sydney battle, dubbed Monkey Trial
II, was that this time science sued creationism.

  Melbourne geology professor Ian Plimer and American marine
salvage expert David Fasold sued Christian fundamentalist
Allen Roberts for alleged breach of copyright and misleading
conduct in a 1992 Noah's Ark lecture tour.

  During the final defence submission yesterday, lawyer
Malcolm Duncan said the case had no rational foundation in
law.

  "This case is, to use a word often heard in Monty Python,
silly," he said.

  He referred to evidence from Professor Plimer, who alleged
that the geologist in charge of the supposed Noah's Ark site
in Turkey knew it was a hoax but had engaged in scientific
fraud to raise money from Christian fundamentalists for
his research.

  According to the professor, Turkish geologist Salih
Bayraktutan had taken part in "low-level Colstoning," Mr
Duncan said.

  Queensland Senator Mal Colston is under pressure for
alleged travel expense rorting.

  Mr Duncan asked whether the courts should deal with cases
that challenged the Creation theory, saying that if the side
of science won, "Galileo will join the Inquisition".

  Justice Sackville observed: "I think Galileo had more to
deal with than the Fair Trading Act".

  Mr Duncan later noted that yesterday was the anniversary
of a visit to Sydney in 1935 by Charles Darwin.
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 * OLX 2.1 TD * ...Pro-life?  Then GET ONE and STAY THE FUCK OUT OF MINE!

--- Maximus 2.02
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