NCSE's Steven Newton contributed "Geology will survive creationist undermining" to New Scientist (October 8, 2011), again reporting on creationists participating in meetings of the Geological Society of America. "Nothing in their presentations revealed that they thought the Grand Canyon's upper rocks were deposited in a year and that dinosaurs and humans once lived together," Newton explained. "The point is to be able to claim legitimacy. Creationists have used their participation in conferences to argue that their ideas are taken seriously by real scientists."
Although there are geologists who have reacted by proposing a ban on presentations by creationists, Newton demurred: "if scientific societies impose bans," he argued, "they will be able to make a plausible claim of censorship and discrimination." In the absence of a ban, he predicted, "[s]cientific organisations will continue to experience creationist infiltration." He emphasized, as he also emphasized in his report in the July 2011 issue of Earth magazine, "it is important for scientists not to overreact and to remember that science is far stronger than any creationist attempts to undermine it."