They are getting close to science. They have a hypothesis anyway. The next thing they have to do is test it. For example, ID folks like to think that the grand canyon in AZ was carved by the receding waters from Noah’s Ark. Good, that’s a theory, now lets get some supporting data.

1. Get a piece of limestone, sandstone, granite and other mineral formations in the area. Dry and get accurate mass measurements.

2. Pour some water on these objects. Include a variety of volumes, speeds, pressures, and times. Velocity of water should not exceed gravitational speeds (using water jets is cheating). Receding water typically has much slower velocities, but good science covers the entire range.

3. Dry the stones and measure mass again at various time points.

4. You now have enough data to start back-calculating the time it would take to remove x numbers of square miles of each of these minerals.

I suppose it is possible that the grand canyon could be carved out from a single flood and would be willing to give it a look if some DATA was presented. I might give it more merit if I could then reproduce the data myself.

But until then, the Flying Spaghetti Monster has just as much relevance in a science classroom.

—the DBC (DATA based conservative)—