Creationist: Beowulf is 'eyewitness account' of dinosaurs existing with humans Meanwhile, Trump builds Cabinet friendly to Creationism

Saint George slaying a dragon. Or is it a dinosaur? Saint George slaying a dragon. Or is it a dinosaur? Photo: Print Collector, Getty Images Photo: Print Collector, Getty Images Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Creationist: Beowulf is 'eyewitness account' of dinosaurs existing with humans 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Besides billionaires, Big Oil and bankers, the Trump Cabinet tentatively will have at least two members — Vice President-elect Mike Pence and HUD nominee Ben Carson — who if not actual card-carrying Creationists, are at least supportive of their beliefs.

Creationists believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible. This includes the notions that the Earth was created 6,000 to 10,000 years ago and that the Flood destroyed all life on Earth, save for Noah, his family and the creatures on the Ark.

Such tenets, when challenged by the geological record, present a timeline problem for fundamentalists.

In this month's Louisville Magazine, reporter Charles Wolford recounts a surreal exchange between Answers in Genesis geologist Andrew Snelling and himself last year at the Noah's Ark theme park, the monument to Creationism in Williamstown, Kentucky.

[AiG's Dr. Georgia] Purdom introduced me to geologist Andrew Snelling, who followed Ken Ham to the U.S. from Australia and for the last nine years has been the director of research for Answers in Genesis. I said,

"There were dinosaurs on the Ark, right?" Snelling nodded. "Right."

"Then why aren't there dinosaurs today?"

"Dinosaurs went extinct after they left the Ark. After the Flood, we had the Ice Age. We had a radically different world. Some creatures weren't able to adapt. But most cultures in the world have some legend about dragons, and these dragons are actually a good description of dinosaurs. The Chinese, for example — their dragons are depicted on scrolls pulling the chariots of emperors. And there was a story called Beowulf in which the king slays a dragon, and this happened in Norway."

"So you take Beowulf to be evidence of dinosaurs existing?"

"Yes," Snelling said. "It was an eyewitness account."

For those of you slept through 11th-grade English Lit, "Beowulf" is a fictional story considered to be one of the oldest surviving works of literature. It is generally not cited as proof or disproof of the existence of dinosaurs.

So to recap, Creationist geologist Snelling suggests that the monster in "Beowulf" — Grendel — is a dragon. Dragons resemble dinosaurs, so if dragons existed, so did dinosaurs — after the Flood. Therefore, it follows that dinosaurs were on the Ark.

Or something like that.

Vice President-elect Pence is on record saying that "evolution is only a theory and that "intelligent design" should be taught in schools as an equally weighted "scientific" alternative. Intelligent design proponents believe that the universe is so complex it must have had an intelligent creator. Many subscribe to the "young Earth" notion (6,000-10,000 years old).

Ben Carson has said he believes that the Earth literally was created in six days. However, he stops short of endorsing the 6,000-year-old Earth contention. The Earth, he says, could have been around for a long time before God began creating things on it.

Of course, that assertion doesn't jibe with the fossil record that indicates the last dinosaurs died off about 65 million years ago.

The man tapped to lead HUD — by all accounts a highly talented neurosurgeon and a man of science — does not believe in evolution. He has asserted that Darwin's theory of evolution was "encouraged" by "the Adversary," a.k.a. Satan.

Julie Ingersoll, professor of religious studies at the University of North Florida, said the choice of Amway heiress Betsy DeVos to head the Department of Education was likely pushed by Pence. DeVos, an evangelical, supports school vouchers, which Pence expanded when he was governor of Indiana. Voucher programs make public money available for religious or private schools.

"It's been a long-standing goal of the Religious Right to replace public education with Christian education," Ingersoll told the Washington Post. "The long term strategy of how to change culture is through education."

As a candidate for governor of Indiana, DeVos' husband Dick backed the teaching of intelligent design.