Remember Marcus Ross? He was the young-earth creationist who caused a bit of a stir earlier this year when the New York Times reported that he had been awarded a PhD in Geology. As it turned out, the only singular thing about Dr. Ross’s thesis was the levels of cognitive dissonance required to complete it; whilst professing a belief in an Earth only 6,000 years old, he was simultaneously employing somewhat more reality-based estimates in his study of Cretaceous marine reptiles (and, it seems, doing a pretty good job). At the time, I found myself feeling quite sorry for him, even if I did worry about the rhetorical use to which he was going to put his qualification in his new position teaching at Liberty University (yes, that Liberty University).
So I guess it wasn’t really much surprise to find him featuring in a report from a conference on Creation Geology, held earlier this summer at Cedarville University, another self-proclaimed “Christ-centered learning community”, where he gave a talk about his experiences:

He entered his university studies as a Christian and a young-earth creationist and faced significant challenges to his faith and his creationist geology position from fellow students and professors, never hiding either his Christian faith or his young-earth creationist position. His testimony showed that it is vital to establish good personal relationships with one’s professors and know when to be more circumspect in one’s witness and in on-campus activities. But even more important, he testified that it is absolutely vital to always maintain a consistent strong connection to a local supportive church fellowship, because there he found the support and nurture that kept him going when times were tough in these secular universities where he studied.

Confirmation of his sound advice was demonstrated earlier this year when upon his graduation from the University of Rhode Island a reporter from The New York Times picked up the story, and when that reporter interviewed staff at that university in order to perhaps find some “mud” to throw at Dr. Ross, the staff only spoke kindly of him and of the quality of his science!

Continue reading →