Creationists 'peddle lies about fossil record'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/02/28/scicreation128...

By Lucy Cockcroft
Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 28/02/2008

A leading scientist accuses creationists of peddling the lie that
there is no fossil evidence of evolution.

Some Christians claim there is a lack of "missing link" fossils,
halfway between two major groups of creatures.

They say this proves Charles Darwin's theory of evolution is a fallacy
and that God created each living species from nothing.

But, in an essay published in the magazine New Scientist today,
geologist Donald Prothero claims that reports of "huge gaps" in the
fossil records have been greatly exaggerated.

Dr Prothero, a professor of geology at Occidental College in Los
Angeles, said: "Life does not progress up a hierarchical ladder from
'low' to 'high' but is a branching bush with numerous lineages
splitting apart and coexisting simultaneously.

"For example, apes and humans split from a common ancestor seven
million years ago and both lineages are still around.

Ye Old One wrote and quoted:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/02/28/scicreation128...

This is a typical case of creationists "moving the
goalposts", or drawing one more in their long series
of ever retreating, always indefensible "lines in
the sand".

When the needed fossils were missing and the gaps
large, the creationists claimed gleefully that the
quality of the fossil record was _definitely
applicable_ to judging the merits of the theory of
evolution, and in the case, that the absence of
fossils to bridge the gaps stood as a way to debunk
the theory of evolution.

Ye Old One mcsuk.net> wrote in
news:vn1hs3l1i194468j323igbbn575s5hhk7n@4ax.com:

snip

On Fri, 29 Feb 2008 22:33:07 GMT, Ye Old One mcsuk.net>
wrote:

One extent example: Archaeopteryx

One extant example: _Ornithorhynchus_anatinus_

Golly, that was easy.

On Mar 1, 2:13 pm, Chris Thompson TAKEOUThotmail.com>
wrote:

bjdowling yahoo.com> wrote in
news:609451a5-49f9-4fb8-aebc-2f93f58c8a24@i12g2000prf.googlegroups.com:

On Mar 1, 11:05 pm, bjdowling yahoo.com> wrote:

On Mar 3, 3:43 am, richardalanforr...@googlemail.com wrote:

bjdowling yahoo.com> wrote in
news:e3ee40e3-9068-4769-a92a-9288be1ba24b@b1g2000hsg.googlegroups.com:

On Feb 29, 5:33 pm, Ye Old One mcsuk.net> wrote: