Originally posted by fieldsofwind
Posted by DT: "shrug* This find won't change their minds. After all, they're still in denial over the archaeopteryx fossils."
http://www.icr.org/pubs/imp/imp-195.htm
http://www.rae.org/index.html
we'll throw this one in just for fun.
One of the tricks Gish uses is to go from "transitional" to "intermediate". Sometimes Gish uses "transitional" to mean intermediate between two higher taxa, which is what Archie is. Then Gish uses "transitional" to mean within the direct ancestral lineage -- from species to species from dinos to modern birds -- which Archie is not. Remember, evolution is like a bush -- all the twigs are the same size (species). Tracing the branching from one twig to another in the past is very difficult. Often what you get are not evolutionary grandfathers, but evolutionary uncles. Very close to the line of descent, but not the actual species.
Another trick Gish uses is building strawmen versions of evolution. Gish defines "transitional" to have all the features to be intermediate at the same time and the same level of intermediateness. But that isn't how evolution works. Traits are not all modified at the same time or rate. Evolution predicts that transitionals will be
mosaics. That is, they have some features of the ancestor and some features of the descendent.
Archie fits that perfectly. An adult with clear dino bones (some fossils of Archie without feathers were misclassified as dinos), a tail, and teeth (to name just a few of the dino/reptile features) and feathers and keelbone like modern birds. A mix of "kinds" not predicted nor allowed by creationism.
One final trick: rhetoric. Gish claims that Archie is all bird because it is classified as Aves. Pure trickery. Even a cursory glance shows that the classification scheme has no place to put transitionals or intermediates. A species has to be put in Aves, Mammalia, or Reptilia. There is no "half Reptilia, half Aves" class. Whether you put Archie in Reptilia or Aves is entirely arbitrary. A conference decided that intermediates would be classified according to where their ancestors ended up. Since the descendents (cousins) of Archie ended up as birds, Archie gets put in Aves.
Are Christians really that gullible? If so, how can the rest of us have any confidence that you aren't falling victim to hallucinations when you hear your "small voice" or that the authors of the gospels didn't put one real big hoax over on you? I'd like to give you the benefit of the doubt, but if you can't spot these obvious con jobs, then maybe you have been conned about your faith.
(Another reason creationism is such a danger to Christianity.)
