John D. Morris
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John D. Morris (born 1946) is an American, young earth creationist. He is the son of "the father of creation science", Henry M. Morris, and the president of the Institute for Creation Research (ICR).
Morris has a B.S. in Civil Engineering and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Geological Engineering. From 1978-1980, he was a research assistant and from 1980-1984, he was an assistant professor of Geological Engineering at the University of Oklahoma.
Morris speaks at a variety of churches, is an author, and serves as a professor of Earth Science and Apologetics at San Diego Christian College.
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[edit] Controversy and criticism
Non-creationists have disagreed with some of Morris's claims. For instance, Jim Foley, a contributor to the Usenet talk.origins FAQ list, said this of Morris, regarding Morris's view of Australopithecus:[1]
- [Morris claimed that] "from the neck down, certain clues suggested to Johanson that Lucy (Australopithecines) walked a little more erect than today's chimps. This conclusion, based on his interpretation of the partial hip bone and a knee bone, has been hotly contested by many paleoanthropologists." Anthropologists, argue that "almost everything in this quote is a distortion (Johanson's and Lucy's names are about the only exceptions)." This is because " 'certain clues suggested' doesn't mention that the whole find screamed 'bipedality' to every qualified scientist who looked at it. As for " 'a little more erect', when everyone believes that Lucy was fully erect," also " 'the partial hip bone and a knee bone', when Lucy included almost a complete pelvis and leg (taking mirror imaging into account, and excluding the foot)." Lastly, " 'has been hotly contested', when no reputable paleoanthropologist denies that Lucy was bipedal." Rather the debates surrounding Australopithecines "are about whether she was also arboreal, and about how similar the biomechanics of her locomotion was to that of humans." Conclusively, "given that we have most of Lucy's leg and pelvis, one has to wonder what sort of fossil evidence it would take to convince creationists of australopithecine bipedality."[1]
In 1996 Morris claimed that creationist belief the human and dinosaur footprints were found in the Paluxy River was "at best, ambiguous" and the Duane Gish of the ICR asserted they "are" human and dinosaur tracks together.[2] Pigliucci, citing various volumes of research wrote "there is no controversy surrounding the prints, only the creationists' stubborn refusal to bow to the evidence."[3]
[edit] Education
- B.S., Virginia Tech (1969)
- M.S., University of Oklahoma (1977)
- Ph.D., University of Oklahoma (1980)
[edit] Works
- (1988) Noah's Ark and the Ararat Adventure. ISBN 0-89051-166-7.
- (1990) What Really Happened to the Dinosaurs?. ISBN 0-89051-159-4.
- (1994) The Young Earth. ISBN 0-89051-174-8.
- (1996) The Modern Creation Trilogy: Scripture and Creation, Science and Creation, Society and Creation. ISBN 0-89051-216-7.
- (2000) A Trip to the Ocean. ISBN 0-89051-285-X.
[edit] References
- ^ Foley, Jim. "Creationist Arguments: Australopithecines", Talk.origins, 1993. Retrieved on December 11, 2006.
- ^ Massimo Pigliucci. Denying Evolution: Creationism, Scientism, and the Nature of Science. (Sinauer, 2002): ISBN 0878936599 page 246
- ^ Massimo Pigliucci. Denying Evolution: Creationism, Scientism, and the Nature of Science. (Sinauer, 2002): ISBN 0878936599 page 246
[edit] External links
[edit] Websites Critical of the works of John Morris
- Answers In Creation Old earth creationist reviews of the claims of John Morris
