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"What proportion of professional petroleum geologists do you think are young-earth-creationists? Have you ever met any significant number?"

I've never met any that I know of, not that it has been a topic of conversation.

I (and basically anyone else in this biz) spot formations by ancient reefs or similar markers (repeatedly confirmed by core samples containing tons of fossilized sea creatures) --- in the middle of Texas.

The fact that the fossilzed sea creaures miles down are very, very, very old is really not a matter of serious dispute --- at least by those who actually find oil and gas and make money based on their being correct about what happened a long time ago.

I suppose God or the Enemy could have put them there to test or mislead us as to how God worked Creation, but I just don't think that is the way such things work.

But - If "oil" is from fossils only (current theory) in the same time period as the coal deposits - which are usually near-surface and can be accurately dated from the real remains of plants in Pre-Cambrian deposits - how then can "oil" be routinely discovered tens of thousands of feet down.

Doesn't the depth of oil discoveries (even in deeper deposits than the 5000-foot deep "sterile" rock of the Grand Canyon!) preclude the theory of fossil deposits.

Rather, wouldn't it (and more recent discoveries of internal oil even deeper) indicate that "oil" is being formed NOW from microbes/heat reactions IN the rock itself.

OK, to take the question a little deeper (and I guess into the realms of your personal opinion...)

Do you think it possible for a rational petroleum geologist to maintain a faith in YEC in the light of the data that they see daily as part of their job? Glenn Morton thinks not (he lost his YEC faith after getting a job in petroleum geology, and knows of no-one in that situation who has kept their faith).

This particular question strikes me as important because it moves the debate away from the constant YEC mantra that mainstream science is all about academicians "going with the flow" to keep their tenure and get federal grants. You've got to think that wouldn't apply to oil companies, who will just back successful predictions regardless of their rationale.

I suppose God or the Enemy could have put them there to test or mislead us as to how God worked Creation, but I just don't think that is the way such things work.

I've come across the Creationist suggestion that fossils are just God's little joke, a 'test' of our faith--which always struck me as just a tad perverse. I mean, are we really to worship a God who sets out, like an evil schoolteacher, to 'trick' us into giving the wrong answer, and thereby spend all eternity in fire and brimstone? Mercifully, this is not a prevailing view of a healthy majority of Christians!

Mind you, an equally plausible thought occurs. I confess that the phrase "chondritic material" earlier in this thread sent me (with my deficient education) scuttling to the dictionary, which informs me that 'grainy' material is indicated. Now, by chance I also know that Parmesan cheese is known in Italian as formaggio grana ('grainy cheeese') and, armed with other insights from a recent FR thread on creationism, feel on the verge of an epiphany here. Grainy material / grainy cheese -- could this not be the noodly appendage of the Flying Spaghetti Monster at work?