Florida Sen. Marco Rubio declined to firmly answer a question of existential importance in an interview released Monday.

An interviewer for GQ magazine asked the Republican, a Catholic and potential 2016 presidential candidate, how old planet Earth is. Rubio didn’t give a direct answer, but suggested children should be exposed to both scientific and religious theories.

“I’m not a scientist, man,” Rubio told the magazine. “I can tell you what recorded history says, I can tell you what the Bible says, but I think that’s a dispute amongst theologians and I think it has nothing to do with the gross domestic product or economic growth of the United States. I think the age of the universe has zero to do with how our economy is going to grow. I’m not a scientist. I don’t think I’m qualified to answer a question like that.

“At the end of the day, I think there are multiple theories out there on how the universe was created and I think this is a country where people should have the opportunity to teach them all. I think parents should be able to teach their kids what their faith says, what science says,” he continued. “Whether the Earth was created in 7 days, or 7 actual eras, I’m not sure we’ll ever be able to answer that. It’s one of the great mysteries.”

The question of the Earth’s age and its origins are an occasional flare-up in the culture wars. Using radiometric dating, scientists have determine the earth is roughly 4.5 billion years old. But fundamentalist Christians hold that the Earth was created in six days, as detailed in the Bible.

Got to ditch the religious right.

crump7 wrote: "I think it has nothing to do with the gross domestic product or economic growth of the United States. I think the age of the universe has zero to do with how our economy is going to grow."

+1

Who gives a flying crap about this stuff?

acesfull86 wrote:

crump7 wrote: "I think it has nothing to do with the gross domestic product or economic growth of the United States. I think the age of the universe has zero to do with how our economy is going to grow."

+1

Who gives a flying crap about this stuff?

People who care about science, and people who hold to certain religious teachings.

Where does Obama stand on the earth age issue?

ZitotheBrave wrote: Got to ditch the religious right.

Not really - just the libertarians.

Anyone who believes in creationism is a fool.

Oh, and nobody got to Rubio.  He's Roman Catholic isn't he?  Roman Catholicism doesn't cheer for young earth theory.

They are. They don't even show elementary knowledge of the Bible taking it 100% literal not realizing that much of the old testament is mythology. Anyone who believes the Earth was created in 6 rotations around the sun is foolish, and not realizing it was the Jewish tale of how earth was created through time, where a day to God is not the same as a day to a man.

Going to creationism.org and seeing this response makes me lol

Didn't the dinosaurs go extinct 65 million years ago?

There is good evidence that the Earth is only thousands of years old. In BOOKS, see Dr. Ackerman's It's a Young World After All. The "65 million years" is a recent mental invention. Evolution provides a mental hiding place from our powerful Creator. Evolution claims (theologically) that our God is weak or non-existent. Right? Think about what evolution claims about our origins. Dragons (per the previous FAQ answer) were seen and sometimes fought by our ancestors on all inhabited continents. Our ancestors were honest in recording sightings of large dangerous reptilian creatures. They lived concurrent with man. Humans saw dinosaurs. Sure, stories later became embellished, but the germ of truth that humans and dinosaurs (dragons) lived at the same time remains accurate. They lived in different places ... but at the same time - until the dinosaurs were mostly driven to extinction. (There are still a few living dinos out there, by the way.)

ZitotheBrave wrote: Anyone who believes in creationism is a fool.

Don't know if I'd go that far, I mean...there's really no way to figure out how all this crap got here.  Creationism is just another theory, though one that's probably on the low end of the probability scale. 

I will say anyone who thinks the earth was formed 7,000 years ago is scientifically challenged, and probably has no business being President.

MikeAdams wrote:

ZitotheBrave wrote: Anyone who believes in creationism is a fool.

Don't know if I'd go that far, I mean...there's really no way to figure out how all this crap got here.  Creationism is just another theory, though one that's probably on the low end of the probability scale. 

I will say anyone who thinks the earth was formed 7,000 years ago is scientifically challenged, and probably has no business being President.

Strict creationists believe the earth is 6500 years old or whatever. I have way less issues with intelligent design. Creationism is as you said, Scientifically Challenged.

To me creationists are less intelligent than Ancient Aliens believers.

It's easier for me to believe in God than for me to believe we came from literally nothing. Scientifically speaking, I think the odds of us coming from nothing are about one in infinity, so therefore it would be extremely foolish of me to bet on that.

Not that I care what my government thinks. Their job is supposed to be to protect my liberty so I can argue religion freely.

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--- ZitotheBrave wrote:

Anyone who believes in creationism is a fool.

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Thanks for submitting such a well thought out, evidence laden argument.

"Anyone who doesn't see the world as I do is a fool." - Zito

MikeAdams wrote:

I will say anyone who thinks the earth was formed 7,000 years ago is scientifically challenged, and probably has no business being President.

Nor does anyone who doesn't have the moxie to refute such nonsense.

m0ssy wrote:

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--- ZitotheBrave wrote:

Anyone who believes in creationism is a fool.

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Thanks for submitting such a well thought out, evidence laden argument.

"Anyone who doesn't see the world as I do is a fool." - Zito

There's no reason to be more thought out than that.

Someone who honestly believes that the earth is 7000 years old, humans coexisted with dinosaurs, and we're all inbred, is not using their god given intelligence.
.

sturg33 wrote: It's easier for me to believe in God than for me to believe we came from literally nothing.

Not sure what this has to do with the age of the earth. The issue is correctly measuring time, not answering the question "what came before time?" It is very easy to accept the age of the universe and still believe it to be created by a Creator. Literally millions of people believe this very thing.

Metaphysicist wrote:

sturg33 wrote: It's easier for me to believe in God than for me to believe we came from literally nothing.

Not sure what this has to do with the age of the earth. The issue is correctly measuring time, not answering the question "what came before time?" It is very easy to accept the age of the universe and still believe it to be created by a Creator. Literally millions of people believe this very thing.

Yup

I'd also add it's easier for me to believe in humans getting the "word of God" wrong, than it is that the earth is 7000 years old and humans just poofed onto the earth, especially with evidence such as homo habilis, and so on.

There's a significant difference between 7,000 years and 4.5 billion.

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--- Temo1 wrote:

acesfull86 wrote:

crump7 wrote: "I think it has nothing to do with the gross domestic product or economic growth of the United States. I think the age of the universe has zero to do with how our economy is going to grow."

+1

Who gives a flying crap about this stuff?

People who care about science, and people who hold to certain religious teachings.

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The president's job has nothing to do with how old he thinks the earth is. This is as relevant as favorite tv show or who he thinks is going to win the Super Bowl.

It's just a distraction.

the issue is really not creationism vs evolution --- the issue is the rights mobilization of anti-science  bibical jihadists  so Koch Brothers etc can deregulate their enterprises and break unions.

A famous man once advised, "follow the money"