Marcus R. Ross

Marcus R. Ross (born 1976) is an American vertebrate paleontologist and young earth creationist. Ross was featured in a February 2007 New York Times article about the conflict between his young Earth creationist beliefs (which hold the Earth to be only thousands of years old) and his doctoral dissertation (which involved animals extinct for millions of years).^[1] His dissertation was on tracking the diversity, biostratigraphy, and extinction of mosasaurs, an extinct group of marine reptiles whose remains are found in Late Cretaceous period (100–65 Ma) deposits around the world.^[2]

Biography

Ross received his B.S. in Earth Science from Pennsylvania State University, his M.S. in Paleontology from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and his Ph.D. in Geosciences from the University of Rhode Island. He is presently an Assistant Professor of Geology in the Biology/Chemistry Department at Liberty University, where he is also the Assistant Director of the Center for Creation Studies.^[3]

As a graduate student, Ross was a fellow of the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture. Ross, along with Fred Heeren (an old Earth creationist), attended the Kunming conference in China with grants from the Institute. The conference was notable for being secretly funded by the Discovery Institute in an attempt to gain scientific legitimacy for intelligent design.^[4] He has also spoken at a young Earth creationist conference by Answers in Genesis at Thomas Road Baptist Church.^[5]

In 2011, Steven Newton's cover story in Earth discussed Ross using minor appearances at academic conferences, where he uses standard science, as a way to bolster claims that creationists challenge mainstream geological consensus when they are not presenting young Earth creationism at the conferences.^[6] Newton wrote, that Ross said that "he thought in a 'framework' of standard science; but for a creationist audience, he said, he used a creationist framework.^[6]

Liberty professor Marcus R. Ross was featured in a report on creationism.^[7] Ross "believes that the Bible is a literally true account of the creation of the universe and that the earth is at most 10,000 years old." This is in contrast to his previous position as reflected when he earned his Ph.D. in geosciences from University of Rhode Island with a dissertation about "the abundance and spread of mosasaurs, marine reptiles that, as he wrote, vanished at the end of the Cretaceous era about 65 million years ago."^[7] Ross explains in his Creation Science classes that it was necessary for him to "follow the rules" of secular science while earning his degrees for the sake of recognition of the validity of his scientific research and methods among the secular scientific community. He explains that he has held a young earth creationist view since he was very young, but few secular scientists are willing to listen to the arguments of anyone who has not gained academic recognition within the world of secular science. Ross has been criticized by some for taking this academic route, but Ross claims that it only firmed his belief in young earth creationism and has enabled him to find academic ground upon which to base the argument for his scientific credentials.^[8]

Media

He has also been interviewed by Christian radio stations, and was featured in DVD lectures arguing why intelligent design is a "better explanation" than evolution for the Cambrian explosion, a 70 million to 80 million year diversification of invertebrate animal life about 530 MYA.^[9]

Selected bibliography

• Ross, Marcus R., Stephen C. Meyer, Paul Nelson, and Paul Chien. 2004. "The Cambrian Explosion: Biology's Big Bang". In Darwinism, Design and Public Education (Michigan State University Press), pp. 323–402. ISBN 0-87013-675-5

• Ross, Marcus R. (May 2005), "Who Believes What? Clearing up Confusion over Intelligent Design and Young-Earth Creationism", Journal of Geoscience Education 53 (3): 319–323, http://serc.carleton.edu/files/nagt/jge/abstracts/Ross_v53n3p319.pdf 

• Ross, Marcus R., and David E. Fastovsky, "Resolving Mosasaur (Diapsida, Squamata) Extinction Across The Atlantic", Paper No. 165-7, at the 2006 Philadelphia Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America (22–25 October 2006).

• Ross, Marcus R., and Roger J. Cuffey, "Chondrichthyan And Reptilian Fossils From The Upper Cretaceous Peedee Formation At Elizabethtown, Southeastern North Carolina, And Comparison To New Jersey Faunas", Paper No. 24-2, at the Geological Society of America Joint Annual Meeting (March 12–14, 2003).

See also

• Flood geology
• Age of the Earth

References

1. ^ "Believing Scripture but Playing by Science's Rules," New York Times, 12 February, 2007 (Accessed 19 October, 2007)
2. ^ "The Cambrian Explosion" Video Study Kit, Access Research Network. Accessed 19 October, 2007.
3. ^ Faculty homepage, Liberty University
4. ^ Barbara Forrest and Paul R. Gross. Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design. 2004, page 59
5. ^ "Answers for Darwin". Answers in Genesis. 2008. http://www.answersingenesis.org/events/details.aspx?Event_ID=6183. Retrieved 2008-10-31. 
6. ^ ^{a b} Newton, Steven (July 2011). "Creationism creeps into mainstream geology". Earth (magazine). http://www.earthmagazine.org/earth/article/456-7db-6-a. Retrieved 2011-06-31. 
7. ^ ^{a b} Dean, Cornelia (February 12, 2007). "Believing Scripture but Playing by Science’s Rules". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/12/science/12geologist.html?ex=1329022800&en=97c24e3503c26985&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink. Retrieved 2007-02-12. 
8. ^ Dean, Cornelia (2007-02-12). "Believing Scripture but Playing by Science’s Rules". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/12/science/12geologist.html. 
9. ^ Fiske, Warren (May 29, 2007), Creationist and professor doesn't believe his own work, The Virginian-Pilot, http://hamptonroads.com/node/273301, retrieved 2009-02-07 

Persondata
Name	Ross, Marcus R.
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1975
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death