Finding the Age of the Earth by Physics or by Faith?

Abstract

Summary For several decades, scientists have generally accepted, on the basis of radiometric dating, that the earth is three to five billion years old. The recent revival of “creationism” in the United States has raised a challenge to this conclusion; creationists prefer a much shorter time scale, in part to support their biblical cosmogony, and in part because they realize Darwinian evolution, which they oppose, requires a very long time scale. The creationist critique of radiometric dating, and their argument that the earth is less than 10,000 years old, may appear plausible to those who are not familiar with modern physical science. In fact, the creationist demand for “equal time” would involve not only presenting an alternative to biological evolution but also replacing some of the best-established theories of physics by obsolete or speculative hypotheses which would ultimately have to be taught in order to justify a young earth. According to the current “scientific creationism” model which has been p...