CREATION SYMPOSIUM SLATED SATURDAY.

Byline: CONNIE LLANOS 

Staff Writer

NEWHALL - It isn't unusual for Professor Ross Anderson's biochemistry classes to start with a prayer.

Teaching at The Master's College, a Newhall Christian college established in 1927, Anderson says his students frequently ask to lead prayer before a hard test or a difficult project.

"I'm not in the habit of leading prayer -- too many years in the public school system," Anderson said. "But it is not uncommon for my students to request it."

However, religion does not permeate his lessons, he said -- unless the topic is evolution.

"I believe the world is between 6,000 and 10,000 years old," Anderson said. "I believe God created the world in six days and that he works hard maintaining it."

The controversy surrounding evolution, and those like Anderson who refute it, is rooted in convictions.

One side holds to its faith in the Bible and refuses to accept that life formed through some cosmic accident. Creationists believe the world was made by God in six days, as described in the biblical book of Gensis.

The other side denounces this faith as fanaticism and claims creationists lack scientific evidence for their beliefs.

This month the debate will come to Santa Clarita during the 14th annual Creation Symposium at The Master's College. Organizers say they want to inform the general public about the theory of creationism.

"We want to get people thinking," Anderson said. "We know what they are taught in school -- evolution -- (and) we want them to question this."

Growing up in Texas, Anderson attended public school for academic learning and Sunday school for religious training. In one he learned that humans evolved from animals; in the other he learned that the world was created by God.

The analytically minded kid grew up and realized his passion lay in the world of science. Early on, he resolved to keep his two worlds separate.

"You want to be a true Christian, but you also want to be recognized for your scientific accomplishments, so your mind downplays the conflict," he said.

Anderson decided he would become a "theistic evolutionist."

"I would say evolution was the means with which God created life."

That resolution worked -- until he became a professor.

"I had always been the student, accepting whatever my professors fed me as absolute truth," Anderson said. "Now the tables were turned."

Students discovered Anderson's background. They questioned how he could resolve his faith in the Bible with his scientific acceptance of evolution. With every question they chipped away at Anderson's resolve.

"Finally I thought to myself, having a Ph.D. means thinking for yourself, and if the conclusion I came up with differs from conventional wisdom, so be it."

Roy Caldwell, director of the Museum of Paleontology at the University of California, Berkeley, doesn't quite agree.

"There is 150 years now of research which is consistent with the theory of natural selection, and they all accept evolution to some level," Caldwell said.

Caldwell, who helped create UC Berkeley's evolution Web site with a grant from the National Science Foundation, is familiar with creationists.

He was sued by a group of anti-evolutionists when, in the site's section on teaching evolution in public schools, Caldwell recommended teachers tell students that many religious leaders had accepted evolution as fact.

The case was dropped, but Caldwell says creationists refuse to accept overwhelming scientific evidence supporting evolution.

"The lines of evidence that show how old fossils are and reveal geological time are so many that it's hard to imagine all of them being wrong."

But creationists say they have scientific evidence of their own, and it's evolutionists' refusal to acknowledge their studies that cast the creationism theory in a negative light.

Ultimately for the faithful, life is simply too miraculous not to involve divine intervention.

Kyle Morawski, senior biology major at The Master's, grew up in Northern California, attended public school and never questioned the evolution theory -- until a friend invited him to a Christian summer camp when he was 15.

A camp counselor made a comment that would convert the youth.

"He said: When you see a painting, you say it's made by a painter; when you see a building, you assume there is a builder; and when you see creation it's only logical for you to assume there is a creator," Morakowski said.

That logic struck Morakowski who, against the wishes of his parents, enrolled at The Master's College.

It was there he learned the theory of creation and realized he didn't have to compromise his faith for his science.

"I ask myself periodically if I am just wanting to believe this because it helps me," Morakowski says, "but to the best of my knowledge, science backs it up."

connie.llanos(at)dailynews.com

[phone]

IF YOU GO

The 14th annual Creation Symposium will be held at 7 p.m. Saturday in the music recital hall at The Master's College, 21726 Placerita Canyon Road, Newhall. Information: [phone] or www.master.edu

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) The Master's College Professor Ross Anderson, center, works with students, from left, Kyle Morakowski, Jeff Holmquist and Katelyn Haney in the science lab. "To the best of my knowledge science, backs it up," Morakowski says of creationism.

(2) Biochemistry Professor Ross Anderson upholds creation.

David Crane/Staff Photographer

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IF YOU GO (see text)