Guess how old the Causeway is 2?
The Culture Minister Edwin Poots has been generating a lot of publicity over his statement to my colleague William Crawley that the world began in the year 4000 B.C.
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Which helps explain why the Environment Minister Arlene Foster decided to leave the exact age of the Giants Causeway open to debate.
Meanwhile the Upper Bann MP David Simpson has been getting very technical in his arguments over creationism with the Education Minister Caitriona Ruane. He want her "to detail whether or not the occurrence of polystrate fossils spanning more than one layer of strata, and the implications of this on Darwinian evolutionary thought, is considered by (i) her department; and (ii) the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment, as presenting (a) evidence-based; or (b) belief-based data to school children in science classes."
He would also like her "to detail whether or not outlining the methods of Ernst Haeckel in support of the evolutionary assertion that 'ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny' is regarded by (i) her department; and (ii) the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment as presenting (a) evidence-based; or (b) belief-based data to pupils in science classes."
And for good measure could she "detail whether or not recent discoveries that the majority of what was once regarded as 'junk' or 'vestigial' DNA, which is now known to undergo transcription and to have a function, is considered to be presenting (i) evidence-based; or (ii) belief-based data to pupils in science classes."
Ms Ruane is probably concentrating right now on re-arranging the entire school structure to fit her conviction that 14 is the best age for children to make choices, something she is expected to expand on in the Assembly tomorrow. She tells Mr Simpson that her "focus is not on joining debates that continue within the science and religious communities on such matters but on supporting the education of all our young people across all areas of the curriculum".
So I am presuming that candidates for what may be the last transfer test in 2008 should not waste time mugging up on questions about vestigial DNA, polystrate fossils and that old 'ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny' debate....
I'm 