Reason Magazine is covering the 2005 Creation Mega-Conference in tragically named Lynchburg, VA, this week (just 112 miles away!). Here's a highlight from the first installment:

Dinosaurs play a surprisingly big role in modern creation science. For example, AiG's opening webpage features a graphic of Apatosaurus dinosaurs mingling with a herd of modern antelopes. Apparently, the comic strip featuring the prehistoric cave man Alley Oop chasing after dinosaurs was actually a precise look into humanity's past. In fact, AiG's president Ken Ham has written a lavishly illustrated children's book Dinosaurs of Eden (2001) which shows Adam and Eve and Noah and his kin frolicking with all manner of dinosaurs. One particularly charming illustration shows Flintstones-style ancient humans saddling up dinosaurs and camels as pack animals. Relying on local legends, the book even suggests that dinosaurs survived as "dragons" in England as late as 1405 AD.

Bailey's best line, however, comes as he sums up the entire ideological movement in a single perfect phrase: "The real heart of creationism is existential dread." Another report should be up later today.

(via Gravity Lens)