- KELDRON, South Dakota --
Countless dinosaur bones lie buried in the rocks of South Dakota but the
Christians excavating one remote cliff-face were digging not just for reptilian
vertebrae but for the hand of God.
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- With screwdrivers, hammers and shaving brushes for tools,
the group was seeking and, as far as it was concerned, unearthed proof
that the animals perished not millions of years ago but in Noah's Flood
circa 2300 BC.
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- To these believers in the Bible's literal truth, they
are not dinosaurs but "missionary lizards", which are powerful
weapons in the battle for young American hearts and minds.
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- Those certain that God made all living things, dinosaurs
included, on Day Six of the Creation, are deploying ever more imaginative
tactics in their struggle against schools and universities teaching Darwin's
theory of evolution.
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- Boldest of all is a trend for believers, young and old,
to dig for fossils and dinosaur remains as witness to God's handiwork.
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- Lecturing to a rapt audience of 20 like-minded Christians
after a hard day in the field, Russ McGlenn, a self-styled amateur archaeologist
and palaeontologist and head of Adventure Safaris, said: "Heavenly
Father, we thank You for the evidence of a catastrophic flood event. We
thank You for the time to study Your creation. Heavenly Father, we thank
You for the evidence of a catastrophic flood event."
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- Mr McGlenn was admittedly preaching to the converted
but his success at strengthening their beliefs and faith was undeniable.
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- "It's just dumb to believe that everything came
from one kind of bang or fish or something," said Katy Carlson, 13,
one of the youngest on the dig.
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- Her companions included a 74-year-old Californian woman
who spends two weeks digging for dinosaurs every year, the mother of three
teenagers who brought them there "as a Christmas present" and
a group of Christian children from Wisconsin.
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- Camping outdoors, riding and simply marvelling at the
emptiness of "Big Sky country" are all part of the fun but the
main draw is the chance to get down on hands and knees and quarry for dinosaur
remains.
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- South Dakota is one big open-air dinosaur cemetery. "Sue",
the world's best preserved tyrannosaurus rex skeleton was discovered in
the area and, in some locations, bones are easily spotted, poking through
the soil. Just as evident, depending on who is looking, is "proof"
that the creatures died in a flood. Evidence is seen in geological strata
and the animals' sudden deaths.
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- The afternoon's work yielded a rich crop of bones, from
a group of Edmontosauruses known to be buried in the hillside. The remains
join similar exhibits, including a triceratops skull, at a museum opened
by the land's owner to spread the word that Darwin was wrong.
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- "Dinosaur fossils are not proof of evolution but
rather extinction," a poster tells visitors to the museum. The war
between Darwinian science and Christian fundamentalists has raged for decades
but the battleground has lately shifted from courtrooms and lecture halls
to small-scale museums, churches and even a Creationist theme park called
"Dinosaur Adventure Land".
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- According to the most recent poll, nearly half of all
Americans, 48 per cent, believe in the Book of Genesis's version of our
origins. The Creationists fervently hope that number may even be rising.
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- Evolution is "the dumbest and most dangerous idea
in the history of humanity", said Kent Hovind, a vocal enthusiast
for the cause who also runs the theme park in Florida. Explaining his Creationist
creed, he said: "We think dinosaurs were part of the normal Creation
and were just big lizards. Noah took some of them on the Ark, probably
babies, when the floods came.
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- "Throughout history, there are stories of people
killing the animals that survived but they called them dragons."
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- Passions aroused by the debate occasionally spill over
into politics, usually into the charged sphere of education, sometimes
involving national figures such as the former president Jimmy Carter and
President George W Bush.
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- © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2004. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/
06/19/wdino19.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/06/19/ixworld.html
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