Ark attack

[南華早報] 2009-05-31 EDT10 EDT

It is no coincidence that many who propagate the Noah's Ark myth as history are creationists who claim that intelligent design is science.

Their claims lack evidence and collapse when they are asked to explain some simple mathematics.

First, how much wood and labour would be required to build a wooden boat 4,000 years ago, big enough to accommodate 10 million species?

Second, how many hundreds of thousands of tonnes would be stored for 40 days' worth of food, including fresh meat and prey for the carnivores?

Third, how long would it take for these 10 million species to propagate to all the different islands and continental environments they occupy today?

If the Ark's maths fails, then would we allow our children to be taught the "intelligent design" version of creationism - that the millions of species we see around the globe today were designed and suddenly put in place after the flood?

Ian Stones, Mid-Levels