Science versus biblical beliefs. It's not the first time the debate has come up on how old is the Earth.
PolitiFact Wisconsin checks out a state lawmaker's claim that the Earth is 6,000 years old.
It came up as state lawmakers debated a bill on tougher penalties for college students who disrupt public speakers.
Kewaskum Republican Jesse Kremer was asked a hypothetical by Madison Democrat Terese Berceau about a geology student suggesting in a classroom that the Earth is 6,000 years old.
Berceau: Can a professor in that case tell a student no you're wrong?
Kremer: This bill stays out of the classroom. Yes, the Earth is 6,000 years old. That's a fact. We can discuss that outside…
Berceau: You do believe it's a fact?
Kremer: I do.
PolitiFact Wisconsin says the 6,000 year number refers to a biblical belief.
"Representative Kremer has not challenged the scientific estimates per se but has held to his belief that the Earth is 6,000 years old based on what the biblical scholars have estimated," said Tom Kertscher with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
PolitiFact Wisconsin found that scientific methods show the Earth is much older.
"Currently the estimates are around 4.5 billion years," Kertscher said.
PolitiFact Wisconsin says Kremer states a biblical belief but goes too far describing it as fact and rated his claim False.
