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I have not seen the posters, but a friend informed me that Creation Ministries International (CMI) is giving another talk in Stellenbosch, most likely again on the invitation of Shofar, most likely again renting the Sanlam hall at the top of the Neelsie. This time it is a Canadian, specialising on Noah’s Flood… I believe the talk will be on Wednesday, 27 August, lunch hour (from 1pm to 2pm). I’m not sure if I will be able to attend, I fly to Switzerland that evening, but I know some of my friends will be there.

The previous CMI-in-Stellenbosch seminar was given in March this year, by Don Batten from Australia. I made eight posts in which I addressed every part of the seminar, thanks to the transcript provided by Auke. Below is the full index of my posts related to the seminar (copied from a previous post, dropping the fluff), followed by some discussion about Noah’s flood.

Posts Related to the Batten Seminar

• A Creationism Lunch Hour - the announcement.
• Creationists and Liars - a general piece about quote mining and two logical fallacies, things used in the talk
• Creationists Believe Lions Originally Ate Plants - bleh, I don’t think much of this post. Just me ranting about “no death before the fall”. Mostly written due to my frustration at fumbling questions at such seminars.
• Incorrect Creationist Calculation: Likelihood of Formation of a Particular Protein - A piece debunking Batten’s final calculation, his attempt at a “climactic end” for his seminar. Explains some of the probability elements of mutation and natural selection, i.e. evolution.
• Batten #1: “Defining” Evolution?
• Batten #2: Transitional Fossils and Quote Mining
• Batten #3: Science versus Wishful Thinking
• Batten #4: Intelligent Design and ATP Synthase
• Batten #5: Junk DNA, Vestigial Organs, Kinesin, Intelligent Design
• Batten #6: “Information”
• Batten #7: Natural Selection
• Batten #8: The Incorrect Calculation
• Batten Seminar Coverage in Die Matie - A letter by Kenneth and Maud, and an article by Ivanka van der Merwe.
• Batten Seminar Coverage in By

- Jurie van den Heever

• Batten Seminar Coverage in Die Burger

- Johannes de Villiers, Francis Collins

• More Batten Seminar Coverage in Die Matie - three letters: a creationist’s response to Kenneth and Maud’s original letter, and two letters responding to that one

Noah’s Flood

In preparation for the upcoming seminar, which may (or may not) deal with the flood…

In the Batten Seminar Coverage in Die Burger, Jurie van den Heever wrote about Noah’s Flood. Duplicating the relevant content here:

Despite Don Batten’s supposed “scientific” approach, in 2001 he wrote in an article in a creationist magazine where he claims all humans on earth, except Noah and the rest of the Ark-family, were wiped out in a flood approximately 4500 years ago.

The interesting thing about this is that the Egyptians that lived in the neighbourhood simply continued with their lives without noticing that they’re drowning in a flood. Also, the famous pyramids of Giza near Cairo that were completed approximately 500 years earlier, was left unharmed by the flood.

Other older inhabitants of the old Middle-East, for example the Babylonians, had the nerve to only record a local flood, wherein featured their own Noah and a much smaller ark.

Considering the Judaeans spent a particular period of time living in banishment in Babylon, and that the oppressed usually incorporate some elements of the oppressors’ life- and world-view into their own, this is likely the true source of the mythical flood and ark story in Genesis, irrespective of Don Batten’s declarations.

For in-depth detail on the flood story, I recommend taking a look at The Talk.Origins Archive: Flood Geology FAQs, in particular the first link, Problems with a Global Flood. For a quick reference to typical claims, see the Flood section of the Index to Creationist Claims (a wonderful resource by the way, certainly a nice collection to spend some of your procrastination time on).

Then there’s always Wikipedia’s entry on Noah’s Ark, which gives a decent overview on various traditions’ perspectives on the story, the history and present state of literal, metaphorical or mythological interpretations of the story.