I am hoping to get many responses to this column.

I had to explain to someone earlier this week that many times I write about things in my column that barely concern me, but I am attempting to connect with my audience so I leave ‘my’ world and come into the ‘local’ world to find shared interests.

Today I am inviting you into my world to see how many of you will respond.

If I can get enough responses, then from this point forward I will try to raise the intellectual bar every time I get the opportunity.

If not, then it’s back to &uot;Bush Bashing&uot;, and you all know how much I love that.

In fact, just mentioning his name almost compels me to devote an entire column to his incompetence and disregard for the Constitution, but I shall refrain, for now.

There is something that I have always wrestled with and that is the concept of dinosaurs in a world dominated by religious ideology.

Way out huh?

When I lived in New York, my family didn’t go to church, ever. My father couldn’t have cared any less about religion.

Whenever my mother brought me to N.C. for the summer, Sunday school was mandatory as she grew up in a strong Southern Baptist family.

Eventually we moved here and the entire time I lived under my grandmother’s roof I went to church; no questions asked.

One of the most fascinating things about academia is the way the concept of dinosaurs manages to peacefully coexist alongside religion without anyone making too big of a stink about it.

If you were to visit museums across the U.S. as well as many college campuses, you can find entire dinosaur skeletons on display complete with archeological information on the history and lineage of these beasts that supposedly roamed the earth millions of years ago.

Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve checked out the opening of the Holy Bible and did the math.

The Bible and science do not coincide at all from a time standpoint.

I believe that the Bible places the origin of man at no more than 10,000 years ago.

In stark contrast, science and the dinosaur fossils imply that man has been on the planet for millions of years.

I have always wondered how the world of academia and the world of religion have not gone to war over this, since the dinosaur fossil record is part of most scholastic teaching models and completes disregards religious theories.

In fact, you aren’t getting out of college without courses in either anthropology or geology.

So where do scientists get their timeline?

The method that scientists use to determine the age of an item is called ‘carbon dating’.

Scientists are confident about their theories concerning the decay rate of carbon, and use that information to date everything from rocks to paintings.

These same scientists graduate from colleges that also graduate medical doctors, who in turn go out and use their scientific knowledge to heal people who may or may not even believe in the science they are being treated with.

Therein lies the conflict.

Religion gets it’s timeline from holy books, written by holy people thousands of years ago.

Yet, every holy book has a different theory about the origin and purpose of their respective God.

There is no way that dinosaurs and Adam and Eve are both correct theories.

I have heard in recent years many ministers and preachers now saying that the Bible is not supposed to be a literal translation of the world but rather a guide on how to live the way God would want you to live.

Tell that to people who believe in speaking in tongues, the Holy Ghost and the resurrection.

If the Bible is not a literal translation for mankind then what gives it authority?

Other men and women, just like science.

Unfortunately the dinosaur theory and the God theory mix like oil and water.

If scientists are wrong about dinosaurs, then where did all those bones come from?

If scientists are wrong about carbon dating, then how can we expect them to get something like heart surgery correct?

I don’t see any mention of dinosaurs in any of the three major religions.

But I see people from all of these religions attending colleges and universities that teach about dinosaurs and being treated by doctors who are in agreement with scientists.

I have asked many people these questions before and I usually get one of three answers.

1. &uot;That’s more information than God wants you to know Curly&uot;.

2.

&uot;I believe in God and I don’t pay any attention to the nonsense scientists speak of.&uot;

3.

&uot;Religion is the opiate of the masses.&uot;

Many lives have been taken in the name of religion, more than any other single reason besides old age.

What I don’t see however is tens of thousands of religious fanatics attacking museums and universities for teaching about dinosaurs.

With all the confidence that each group has, I don’t understand what has taken so long for the war to start.

I used 931 words for this column; can you respond with the same amount or less?

If your argument is strong enough we’ll discuss it next week.

Holla back, curly.morris@r-cnews.com