UPDATE: Rubio Admits Earth is 4.5B Years Old

As regular readers of this here blog thingy know, we at madprofessah.com are members of the reality-based community. So, when putative 2016 presidential hopeful U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) answered the innocuous question "How old do you think the Earth is?" from GQ magazine with a frankly unacceptable response, I called him on it.

Even crazy old coot Pat Robertson rejects the notion of a "young earth" and encourages others to as well.

Today, the 41-year-old Cuban-American GOP wonderboy admitted he does know how old the earth is to Politico:

Rubio also addressed the controversy surrounding his recent comments to GQ about the age of the earth. 

“Science says it’s about four and a half billion years old and my faith teaches that that’s not inconsistent,” he clarified. “The answer I gave was actually trying to make the same point the president made a few years ago, and that is there is no scientific debate on the age of the earth. I mean, it’s established pretty definitively as at least four and a half billion years old … I was referring to a theological debate and which is a pretty healthy debate.” 

“The theological debate is how do you reconcile what science has definitively established with what you think your faith teaches? For me, actually, when it comes to the age of the earth there is no conflict: I believe that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and I think scientific advances give us insight into when he did it and how he did it,” he said. “But I still believe God did it, And that’s how I’ve been able to reconcile that and I think it’s consistent with the teachings of my church. But other people have a deeper conflict and I just think in America we should have the freedom to teach our children whatever we believe.”

Really, Senator Rubio? This response just shows how sneaky he can be. He got caught pandering to religious extremists and know he is blathering about a "theological debate." The question was NOT about the theological debate. The question was about a scientifically determined fact, and he answered differently from what he knew was true, in order to not offend people who wish to have a debate (theological or other) about this question. Busted!

And the point about "[I]n America we should have the freedom to teach our children whatever we believe" is just a canard. PARENTS can teach their kids whatever craziness they want to, but public schools, paid from the taxes of everyone can not endorse any parent's religious views and so should just teach the facts. This last point is something fellow Brown GOP 2016 Presidential hopeful Bobby Jindal does not understand either.