Radiocarbon in Diamonds Confirmed
Semitechnical
by Dr. Andrew Snelling, AiGU.S. November 7, 2007
Keywords
ageofearth
authorandrewsnelling
carbon14
radiometricdating
youngageevidence
During the RATE (Radioisotopes and the Age of The Earth) research project at the Institute for Creation Research, cosponsored by the Creation Research Society, some of the research effort was focused on investigating radiocarbon (carbon14) dating. This is one of the radioactive dating methods, but because carbon14 decays relatively rapidly it only provides “ages” in the range of tens of thousands of years. In fact, if every atom making up the earth was carbon
14, even after just 1 million years there would be absolutely no atoms of carbon14 left, because they would have all decayed away, based on today’s measured halflife! That’s why radiocarbon dating isn’t used to date rocks at millions of years.
The RATE radiocarbon research first focused on demonstrating that significant detectable levels of carbon14 are present in ancient coal beds.1,2 Ten samples from U.S. coal beds, conventionally dated at 40–320 million years old, were found to contain carbon14 equivalent to ages of around 48,000–50,000 years. The laboratory did repeat analyses and confirmed that this carbon14 in the coals was not due to any contamination either in situ in the samples or added to the samples in the laboratory. Of course, these would not be the true ages of these coal beds, because these 48,000–50,000 year ages are calculated at the presentday level and production rate of radiocarbon.
The fact that all these coal beds yield radiocarbon ages in the same “ballpark” is consistent with them all having been formed at the same time in a recent catastrophic event. This is, of course, consistent with masses of preFlood vegetation being swept away and buried on a huge scale globally during the cataclysmic Genesis Flood.
Buoyed by this success, the RATE radiocarbon research next checked for carbon14 in diamonds. Diamonds are the hardest known natural substance and resist physical abrasion. Also, the chemical bonding of the carbon in diamonds makes them highly resistant to chemical corrosion and weathering.
Diamonds also repel and exclude water from adhering to their surfaces, which would eliminate any possibility of the carbon in the diamonds becoming contaminated. Sure enough, the diamonds submitted for radiocarbon analyses did contain detectable, significant levels of carbon14, equivalent to an age of around 55,000 years. Again, the laboratory did repeat analyses and discounted any possibility that this carbon14 was due to contamination, in situ to the diamonds or added in the laboratory. At 1–2 billion years old, these diamonds, which are formed deep inside the earth, are regarded as being related to the earth’s early history. Therefore, it was concluded that carbon14 in these diamonds was consistent with a young age for the earth itself.
Confirmation that there is in situ carbon14 in diamonds has now been reported in the conventional literature.3 R.E. Taylor of the Department of Anthropology at the University of California–Riverside and of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at the University of California–Los Angeles teamed with J. Southon at the Keck Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Laboratory of the Department of Earth System Science at the University of California–Irvine to analyze nine natural diamonds from Brazil. All nine diamonds are conventionally regarded as being at least of early Paleozoic age, that is, at least several hundred million years old. So, if they really are that old they should not have any intrinsic carbon14 in them. Eight of the diamonds yielded radiocarbon “ages” of 64,900 years to 80,000 years. The ninth diamond was cut into six equal fragments, which were each analyzed. They yield essentially identical radiocarbon “ages” ranging from 69,400 years to 70,600 years. This suggests the carbon14 was evenly distributed through this diamond, which is consistent with it being intrinsic carbon14, and not contamination. Interestingly, samples of Ceylon graphite from Precambrian metamorphic rock (conventionally around 1 billion years old) were analyzed at the same time and yielded radiocarbon “ages” of from 58,400 years to 70,100 years.
These results, from a different radiocarbon laboratory to that used by the RATE group, confirm that there is intrinsic carbon14 in natural diamonds. Therefore, they cannot be hundreds of millions or billions of years old, as there is no other current credible explanation for the presence of this carbon14. Less carbon14 was found in the diamonds in this study reported in the conventional literature. That was because the diamonds were mounted directly in the beam within the analytical instrument, whereas in the RATE study the diamonds were combusted to convert the carbon to carbon dioxide, which was then converted to graphite that was analyzed in the instrument.
That process may have introduced some more carbon14 to the analyses. The University of California scientists, of course, did not conclude that the diamonds they analyzed are evidence that the earth is young. Instead, they interpreted these 64,900–80,000 year “age” to represent one component of “machine background” in the analytical instrument. Yet this begs the question as to why then did the Precambrian graphite contain on average more carbon14 to yield younger ages than the diamonds? And why did the diamonds have such different carbon14 contents to yield different apparent radiocarbon “ages”? Because the same instrument was used to analyze all the diamonds and the graphite, the results should surely have all been affected by the same “machine background.” Rather, these results may further confirm the conclusions of the RATE radiocarbon project that natural diamonds, which are related to the earth’s early history, show evidence of being only thousands of years old and provide noteworthy support that the earth is young.
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Footnotes
J. R. Baumgardner, “14C Evidence for a Recent Global Flood and a Young Earth,” in L. Vardiman, A. A. Snelling, and E. F. Chaffin (Eds.), Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth, Vol. 2: Results of a Youngearth Creationist Research Initiative, (El Cajon, California: Institute for Creation Research and Chino Valley, Arizona: Creation Research Society, 2005), pp. 587–630. Back
D. B. DeYoung, Thousands ... not Billions: Challenging an Icon of Evolution, Questioning the Age of the Earth, (Green Forest, Arkansas: Master Books, 2005), pp. 45–62. Back
R.E. Taylor and J. Southon, “Use of Natural Diamonds to Monitor 14C AMS Instrument Backgrounds,” Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 259 (2007): 282–287.
From: (http://irnnews.com/news.asp?action=detail&article=21462)
Texas children roped into Islamic training
By: John Russell | Source: World Net DailyJune 2, 2008 12:07PM EST
By Bob Unruh
WorldNetDaily
Public school students at Friendswood Junior High in the Houston area have been roped into Islamic training by representatives from the Council on AmericanIslamic Relations during class time, prompting religious leaders to protest over Principal Robin Lowe's actions.
Pastor Dave Welch, spokesman for the Houston Area Pastor Council, confirmed the indoctrination had taken place and called it "unacceptable." "The failure of the principal of Friendswood Junior High to respect simple procedures requiring parental notification for such a potentially controversial subject, to not only approve but participate personally in a religious indoctrination session led by representatives of a group with wellknown links to terrorist organizations and her cavalier response when confronted, raises serious questions about her fitness to serve in that role," the pastors' organization said.
According to a parent, whose name was withheld, the children were given the Islamic indoctrination during time that was supposed to be used for a physical education class.
"I am simply trying to get the word out to those whose kids may not have told them about an Islamic presentation that all kids were required to attend," wrote the parent, who was working to assemble protests to the school board. WND previously has reported how public school textbooks used across the nation have begun promoting Islam, teaching even the religious doctrines. WND also has reported on several other schools that have taught Islam as a required subject.
In the Texas case, a school email to parents provided only a halfhearted acknowledgment that such mandatory religious indoctrination might not have been the best decision.
"In hindsight, a note should have been sent home to parents indicating the purpose and content of the presentation in time for parents to contact me with questions or concerns or requests to exempt their child," the school note from Lowe said. "This will be our practice in the future, should we ever have another presentation of a similar nature."
School officials also said the "Islamic Awareness" presentation was "to increase understanding of the Islamic culture in response to racially motivated comments that have been made to students on campus." The pastors said in a statement: "According to students who were forced to attend these sessions, these Islamic evangelists taught them:
Adam, Noah and Jesus are prophets
There is one god, his name is Allah
The 5 Pillars of Islam
How to pray five times a day
Islamic religious garb"
The pastors noted that the principal's claim there were "comments" to students on campus was unverified. Nor does that excuse or justify "this infringement upon the religious beliefs of students and parents of the community nor the violation of school policy and possibly state and/or federal law," they said.
"We do not believe that this unapproved action by Principal Robin Lowe represents the school district and certainly not the majority of students or parents in the Friendswood community. Our commitment is to support all appropriate administrative, legal and political remedies to assure that this will not happen again and these Islamic activist organizations are kept out of our schools," the pastors said.
The parent reported the presentation was 30 to 40 minutes long and handled by two Muslim women from CAIR's Houston office. CAIR, as WND has reported, is spinoff of the defunct Islamic Association for Palestine, launched by Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzook and former university professor Sami alArian, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to provide services to Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Among the convicted CAIR staffers are former communications specialist Randall Todd "Ismail" Royer, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges he trained in Virginia for holy war against the U.S. and sent several members to Pakistan to join a Kashmiri terrorist group with reported ties to alQaida; and Bassem Khafagi, who was arrested in January 2003 while serving as CAIR's director of community relations and convicted on fraud and terrorism charges in connection with a probe of the Islamic Assembly of North America, an organization suspected of aiding Saudi sheiks tied to Osama bin Laden. In October 2006, Ghassan Elashi, a member of the founding board of directors of the Texas branch of CAIR, was sentenced to nearly seven years in prison for financial ties to a highranking terrorist. The parent reported Lowe told students her sister, niece and nephew were Muslim.
But the parent complained the Muslims "were given full attention of our kids, during academic school time, to present their religious beliefs. … This was put right at the end of the school year … which will most likely prevent a Christian response."
There also was no parental notification, and students were required to attend.
"The kids did not even know they were having an assembly or what topic it pertained to until they entered the gym," the parent wrote. "I send my kids to school for academics. … I teach them religion at home."
SHARIA LAW ROW: ARCHBISHOP IS IN SHOCK AS HE FACES DEMANDS TO QUIT AND CRITICISM FROM LORD CAREY
Last updated at 22:52pm on 09.02.2008
Under fire: Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams
The Archbishop of Canterbury was facing demands to quit last night as the row over sharia law intensified.
Lord George Carey, Dr Williams' predecessor, criticised his comments on sharia law and said that accepting the Islamic code would be a disaster for Britain.
Other leading bishops publicly contradicted Dr Rowan Williams's call for Islamic law to be brought into the British legal system. With the Church of England plunged into crisis, senior figures were said to be discussing the archbishop's future.
One member of the church's "Cabinet", the Archbishop's Council, was reported as saying: "There have been a lot of calls for him to resign. I don't suppose he will take any notice, but, yes, he should resign."
Officials at Lambeth Palace told the BBC Dr Williams was in a "state of shock" and "completely overwhelmed" by the scale of the row.
It was said that he could not believe the fury of the reaction. The most damaging attack came from the Pakistanborn Bishop of Rochester, the Right Reverend Michael NazirAli.
He said it would be "simply impossible" to bring sharia law into British law "without fundamentally affecting its integrity". Sharia "would be in tension with the English legal tradition on questions like monogamy, provisions for divorce, the rights of women, custody of children, laws of inheritance and of evidence.
"This is not to mention the relation of freedom of belief and of expression to provisions for blasphemy and apostasy."
The church's second most senior leader, Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu, refused to discuss the matter. But he has said sharia law "would never happen" in Britain.
Politicians joined the chorus of condemnation, with Downing Street saying British law should be based on British values. Tory and LibDem leaders also voiced strong criticism.
Even prominent Muslims were rounding on Dr Williams. Shahid Malik, Labour MP for Dewsbury, said: "I haven't experienced any clamour or fervent desire for sharia law in this country.
"If there are people who prefer sharia law there are always countries where they could go and live."
Khalid Mahmood, Labour MP for Birmingham Perry Bar, rejected the idea that British law forces Muslims to choose between their religion and their society.
He said: "This will alienate people from other communities because they will think it is what Muslims want and it is not."
The Muslim Council of Britain came to Dr Williams's aid, however, describing his comments in a lecture to lawyers and a BBC interview as "thoughtful". But Oxford University Islamic scholar Professor Tariq Ramadan admitted:
"These kinds of statements just feed the fears of fellow citizens. I really think we, as Muslims, need to come up with something that we abide by the common law and within these latitudes there are possibilities for us to be faithful to Islamic principles."
The archbishop is likely to come under heavy fire next week at a meeting of the Church's General Synod.
Liberal and feminist critics have been appalled by the thought of sharia law while evangelical opponents believe Dr Williams has failed to defend Christianity.
The archbishop was already battling intractable difficulties within the church over gay rights, a row which began nearly five years ago and has brought him criticism from all sides. Later this year he has to face a conference of hundreds of bishops from around the world which threatens further bitter division.
Dr Williams's opponents on the conservative evangelical wing who resent his liberal beliefs on issues such as gay rights were suggesting last night that the archbishop is finished.
The Reverend Paul Dawson of the Reform group of around 500 clergy said:
"We are very sad that he does not seem to be able to articulate a clear Christian vision for Britain. It is true to say that there is a lot of dissatisfaction."
Dr Williams defended himself in a Lambeth Palace statement saying he had been trying to "tease out" the issue.
The archbishop had said it could help build a better and more cohesive society if Muslims were able to choose to have marital disputes or financial matters, for example, dealt with in a sharia court. The adoption of some elements of sharia law "seems unavoidable".
But the statement insisted: "The archbishop made no proposals for sharia, and certainly did not call for its introduction as some kind of parallel jurisdiction to the civil law."
Even fellow bishops, however, think this is precisely what Dr Williams did say.
Bishop of Southwark Tom Butler, a liberal who would normally be expected to defend Dr Williams, said the archbishop had been entering a minefield and added: "It will take a great deal of thought and work before I think it is a good idea."
He was more blunt in a circular to clergy in his diocese, saying he had yet to be convinced of the feasibility of incorporating any nonChristian religious law into the English legal system.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7239283.stm UK and the Sharia.
Mark Steyn's America Alone, http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp? content=20061023_134898_134898&source=srch
The future belongs to Islam
The Muslim world has youth, numbers and global ambitions. The West is growing old and enfeebled, and lacks the will to rebuff those who would supplant it. It's the end of the world as we've known it. An excerpt from 'America Alone'.
MARK STEYN | Oct 20, 2006
Sept. 11, 2001, was not "the day everything changed," but the day that revealed how much had already changed. On Sept. 10, how many journalists had the Council of AmericanIslamic Relations or the Canadian Islamic Congress or the Muslim Council of Britain in their Rolodexes? If you'd said that whether something does or does not cause offence to Muslims would be the early 21st century's principal political dynamic in Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and the United Kingdom, most folks would have thought you were crazy. Yet on that Tuesday morning the top of the iceberg bobbed up and toppled the Twin Towers.
This is about the seveneighths below the surface the larger forces at play in the developed world that have left Europe too enfeebled to resist its remorseless transformation into Eurabia and that call into question the future of much of the rest of the world. The key factors are: demographic decline; the unsustainability of the social democratic state; and civilizational exhaustion.
Let's start with demography, because everything does:
If your school has 200 guys and you're playing a school with 2,000 pupils, it doesn't mean your baseball team is definitely going to lose but it certainly gives the other fellows a big starting advantage. Likewise, if you want to launch a revolution, it's not very likely if you've only got seven revolutionaries. And they're all over 80. But, if you've got two million and seven revolutionaries and they're all under 30 you're in business.
For example, I wonder how many pontificators on the "Middle East peace process" ever run this number:
The median age in the Gaza Strip is 15.8 years.
http://libertyonline.hypermall.com/henryliberty.html