Creationist propaganda for kids

I have this book in a Swedish translation. "The Great Dinosaur Mystery and the Bible" is a creationist book aimed at children. Creationists, or rather young earth creationists, are Christian fundamentalists who believe that God created the world about 10,000 years ago. They take the stories in the Book of Genesis quite literally: Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden, and the fall of man. They also believe the stories about Noah, the ark and the deluge.

It's amazing that these originally Israelite Bronze Age legends are still believed by millions of people in the United States, the nation that put Buzz Aldrin on the Moon! One of many reasons is books like this one. Fundamentalism is a kind of broad subculture with its own schools, colleges, TV stations, publishing companies, and (surprise) churches. It's a cradle-to-the-grave kind of thing. Children who grow up in this subculture are exposed to the creationist propaganda from a very early age. Some never hear the alternative scientific version until they attend secular colleges in their twenties!

Dinosaurs are a special problem for "literalist" Christians since, of course, dinosaurs are never mentioned in the Bible. Yet, their existence cannot be denied. Moreover, dinosaurs are very much a pop culture phenomenon. The creationists have therefore grabbed the bull by the horns (or is it a Triceratops?) and use the popularity of dinosaurs as an attention-grabber. Despite the obvious absurdity, many "Bible-believing" creationist books are about dinosaurs, books for kids in particular.

Paul Taylor's book rehashes the usual creationist worldview. The dinosaurs lived in Eden together with Adam and Eve. They were peaceful herbivores, including Tyrannosaurus. The book is filled with nice colour illustrations of dinosaurs mingling with antelopes, elephants and parrots. On one illustration, the mighty hand of God supernaturally brings forth both dinosaurs, chimpanzees and penguins! The author further claims that the dinosaurs were taken onboard the ark, and hence survived the Flood. By contrast, an old family bible of mine contains a picture of dinosaurs and mammoths drowning in the deluge. Taylor is more consistent: if one pair of "all" animals were taken onboard the ark, dinosaurs must have been included as well. Creationists claim that Leviathan and Behemoth, mentioned in the Book of Job, were really dinosaurs. In their opinion, then, dinosaurs *are* mentioned in the Bible.

The last part of "The Great Dinosaur Mystery" sounds like a treatise on cryptozoology, a pseudoscience claiming that mythical animals such as Bigfoot or the Great Sea Serpent are real. Since the dinosaurs supposedly survived the deluge, Taylor must prove that humans have seen dinosaurs. This he does by retelling various stories from ancient Greek, Babylonian or Chinese sources, and some medieval or Renaissance chronicles, about "dragons" and other mysterious reptiles of enormous size. Even the gargoyles on Gothic cathedrals are used as proof for the continued existence of dinosaurs. Apparently, the writer believes that gigantic sea-living creatures such as Plesiosaurus or Kronosaurus still exist! The sensational carcass found by the Japanese fishing boat Zuiyo Maru in 1977 is prominently featured. I'm pretty sure this part of the book is the one kids will found most exciting: "wow, the dinos may still be around".

At the absolute end of the book, comes the usual call for repentance and a (veiled) threat of eternal damnation.

To an outsider, this book sounds very, very absurd. It reads like a tract from the Watchtower Society. The Swedish translation was actually reviewed by a daily newspaper. They didn't believe it, and the fact that somebody else might, challenged the reviewer's credulity to the breaking point. However, I'm sure the book is a success on its home turf. As creationist propaganda goes, I give it four or five stars.