Creationist Activities, Research, and Publications
In 1964, Richard M. Ritland, director of the Geoscience Research Institute (GRI), invited Coffin to join GRI as a staff scientist, a position he held until his retirement in 1990.8 During his time at GRI, Coffin studied the famous “fossil forests” of Yellowstone National Park, generally interpreted as having been deposited during the Eocene Epoch, approximately fifty million years ago. Coffin, who embraced the concept of a recent creation and a global Genesis Flood, thought the fossil trees were deposited within the last few thousand years. He cited the parallel orientation of horizontally positioned fossil trees as evidence they had been floated in during the Flood.9 By contrast, Ritland, citing what he interpreted to be soil levels and root zones, believed the trees represented a series of actual forests that had repeatedly been destroyed by volcanic debris flows.10
Coffin also studied the multi-layered “fossil forests” in the coal seams of Joggins, Nova Scotia. Once again he interpreted these trees as having been deposited by the Flood. Among the fossil trees, he found fossil shells of marine tubeworms of the genus Spirorbis which he said would not have lived in Carboniferous rain forests containing the trees, the usual interpretation for the origin of this ecosystem.11
Both the Yellowstone and Joggins fossil forests contain upright stumps and trunks of fossil trees, often interpreted to have been in growth position. Coffin, however, did experiments showing that under certain conditions plants can sometimes float upright.12 Coffin used the results of these experiments to suggest that just because a fossil tree is oriented in an upright position does not mean it is in its position of growth.13 Similarly, he demonstrated that many trees floating in Spirit Lake, Washington, following Mount St. Helens’ 1980 eruption were floating upright.14 These experiments and observations have been touted widely by creationists as evidence consistent with belief in the Genesis Flood.15
In December 1981, Coffin and Ariel Roth, also employed by GRI, served as expert witnesses on behalf of the defense during the Arkansas Creation trial (McLean et al. vs State Board of Education). They referred to things like rapid fossilization and massive depth of coal beds as bases for believing in a worldwide flood. Under cross-examination, however, Coffin noted that his belief in a young earth was based on the Bible; he said the scientific evidence alone would lead him to believe the earth was very old.16 He testified that his reading of the Bible and the results of his scientific studies convinced him that the Genesis Flood had taken place five to seven thousand years ago.17 He believed the Bible’s “assertions are historically and scientifically true with the exception of minor problems.”18
Coffin, in agreement with Robert H. Brown, another colleague at GRI, had “no objection to radiometrically dating ages as far as the inorganic matter is concerned,” but life itself was only a few thousand years old. He believed the sun, moon, and stars to be very old as well.19
In contrast with many creationists, Coffin believed that “evolution science” is indeed science, and that both “evolution science” and “creation science” are “in the same category.” According to Coffin, neither evolution nor creation is falsifiable. He felt, however, “that a person who knew nothing about evolution or creation, if he took the fossil record at face value . . . would come up to the opinion that there was a sudden creative act.” As evidence, he referred to the large diversity of complex fossil animals that seem to appear suddenly in the Cambrian level of the geologic column.20
Coffin was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; the Geological Society of America; and Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society. At one time he also was a member of the Creation Research Society, but he let his membership lapse in part because he did not agree with all its membership tenets. He also quibbled with some of the scientific conclusions of members of that society.21
Many of Coffin’s books and articles were written for Adventist and creationist audiences. But he also published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, including Geology, Journal of Paleontology, and Palaios. These latter articles reported the results of his experiments and observations with upright trees in Yellowstone and Nova Scotia. Although he considered the results published in these journals consistent with his belief in “Flood geology,” the articles did not mention this fact.22
