#old-earth

adj. Of or relating to the great age of the earth as indicated by scientific evidence

Last week I was a speaker at a recruitment event for our College of Arts and Sciences. I stood with my advisor, waiting for non-existent questions about the geology program here and we just talk until this man approaches us. What do you know, he is a creationist. The strangest part was that he was very nonchalant and nonconfrontational. 

Simply put, that was the most awkward 20 minutes of my life. My advisor is a geomorphologist my trade, hydrogeologist by study. I am an ig. petrologist by study. (I shamefully admit I have never taken a paleo class before nor sed/strat.) We're not the best people to briefly discus these topics with that man, much less bring some of them down to a level he could understand.

Granted, I looked to her the entire time and she took it like a champ. It was a very respectable discussion, despite us being slightly dismissive to some claims about floods, index fossils, and dating - the usual arguments. At least he was not a Young-Earth person. That would not have been a fun situation in which to try to remain polite.