Mark I. Vuletic

Last updated 21 March 2008

Background

Creationist Kent Hovind offers this claim in a list of "facts from various branches of science that limit the age of the universe (including earth) to a few thousand years."

Analysis

This claim suffers from the same main problem as the use of the age of Niagara Falls to establish a young Earth: it is completely irrelevant even if true, since the Earth obviously can be older than any feature on its surface. The age of the Mississippi River Delta could limit the age of the Earth only if the Mississippi River flowed from the very beginning of the Earth, but such an assumption is without warrant.

I assume Hovind does not really mean to suggest that the age of the Mississippi River Delta also limits the age of the universe to a few thousand years; if he does, the problems such a suggestion should be immediately evident to everyone from the foregoing.