# Can Creationists say that different plants are related? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 13, 2009, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-creationists-say-that-different-plants-are-related/509888 "2009-09-13T04:03:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cagey\_Drifter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@Cagey\_Drifter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cagey_Drifter)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2009, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-creationists-say-that-different-plants-are-related/509888/1 "2009-09-13T04:03:41Z")
…like the way onions and garlic are related? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2009, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-creationists-say-that-different-plants-are-related/509888/2 "2009-09-13T05:22:28Z")
Creationists can say Jesus rode donosaurs. What is the point of your question? That some plants or too noble or holy to have evolved from other plants? If a creationist believes all animals were created as is 6 thousand years ago, the same would be true of plants. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2009, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-creationists-say-that-different-plants-are-related/509888/3 "2009-09-13T06:02:43Z")
[Answers in Genesis](http://www.answersingenesis.org/) is a Young Earth Creationist (YEC) group, meaning that they reject about as much of science as you’re going to get this side of the [Geocentrists](http://www.geocentricity.com/). [According to AiG](http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v3/n1/zonkeys-ligers-wholphins): > [@](#): > > Creation scientists use the word _baramin_ to refer to created kinds (Hebrew: _bara_ = created, _min_ = kind)…Baramin is commonly believed to be at the level of family and possibly order for some plants/animals (according to the common classification scheme of kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species). So, creationists would probably say that onions and garlic are simply varieties of the same “kind” (and that they thus ultimately descend from the same seed carried on Noah’s Ark or whatever). Answers in Genesis are, as mentioned, [Young Earth Creationists](http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs/1866.asp). They also assert that (from that third link): > [@](#): > > **Ligers, Tigons, and Other Cats** > > These hybrids are the result of mating within the family Felidae. Ligers are the result of mating a male lion and a female tiger. Ligers are the largest cats in the world, weighing in at over 1000 lbs (450 kg). Tigons are the result of mating a female lion and a male tiger. These matings only occur in captivity, since lions live in Africa, tigers live in Asia, and the two are enemies in the wild. Female hybrids are typically fertile while male hybrids are not. > > Other hybrids in this family include bobcats that mate with domestic cats and bobcats with lynx (Blynx and Lynxcat). There have been mixes of the cougar and the ocelot, as well as many others. This shows that large, midsize, and small cats can ultimately interbreed, and therefore, suggests that there is only one cat kind. So, according to AiG, [Fluffy the housecat](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Youngkitten.JPG) and a [700-pound Siberian tiger](http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGS/Shared/StaticFiles/Photography/Images/Content/siberian-tiger-portrait-502825-sw.jpg) diverged from a common ancestor within the last 10,000 years or so–which, ironically enough, is far more rapid evolutionary change than the most radical “evolutionist” would likely accept as being possible. ---
**Author:** ![wierdaaron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eada6e/32.png) [@wierdaaron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wierdaaron)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2009, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-creationists-say-that-different-plants-are-related/509888/4 "2009-09-13T06:20:21Z")
When I was a creationist I had no problem with the notion of plants being related. “Shallots are cousins to garlic,” etc. It’s like dog breeding. You’d have to be aware that all of these dog breeds were made by breeding, within the last few hundred years, in fact. They don’t think god invented poodles and labradors at the same time. Well, I’m sure _some_ people think that. Horticulture is the same way. Even though evolution is the exact same thing, creationists don’t believe it because they can’t watch it happen. If only they could just have faith in something. ---
**Author:** ![akennett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee59a6/32.png) [@akennett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akennett)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2009, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-creationists-say-that-different-plants-are-related/509888/5 "2009-09-13T15:31:07Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > So, according to AiG, [Fluffy the housecat](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Youngkitten.JPG) and a [700-pound Siberian tiger](http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGS/Shared/StaticFiles/Photography/Images/Content/siberian-tiger-portrait-502825-sw.jpg) diverged from a common ancestor within the last 10,000 years or so–which, ironically enough, is far more rapid evolutionary change than the most radical “evolutionist” would likely accept as being possible. Approximately 4350 years, actually. But don’t worry about the rate of change, “God provided organisms with special tools to change rapidly.”\* As for the rest, **MEBuckner** ’s post is spot-on with the “information” presented by AIG. Related plants would be on the same “bush” (rather than evolutionary tree) in “God’s Orchard” with a common “kind” at the root. (I wish I was kidding about this.) \*Quoted from an explanatory sign at AIG’s Creation Museum. I was there yesterday (for free…got press passes to do a story about the place. Don’t think they’ll like what they get, though). That sign and more can be seen in the album here: [http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2054747&id=66200326](http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2054747&id=66200326) ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-creationists-say-that-different-plants-are-related/509888/6 "2009-09-14T00:19:37Z")
> [@wierdaaron](#): > > When I was a creationist I had no problem with the notion of plants being related. “Shallots are cousins to garlic,” etc. And gorillas are cousins to chimps, and we are cousins to… no… wait. 🙂 Guess we better not use DNA to figure out who are cousins to whom, huh? We might get answers we don’t like. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-creationists-say-that-different-plants-are-related/509888/7 "2009-09-14T00:22:23Z")
> [@akennett](#): > > That sign and more can be seen in the album here… “This mastodon lived during the Ice Age, which took place a few centuries after the Genesis Flood.” What? Seriously?! 😕 This museum isn’t owned by the publisher of the _Onion_ or something is it?? ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-creationists-say-that-different-plants-are-related/509888/8 "2009-09-14T01:26:24Z")
> [@akennett](#): > > Approximately 4350 years, actually. :smack: Oh, yeah, that’s right–the bottleneck wouldn’t even be the Garden of Eden–it would be the Flood and Noah’s Ark. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-creationists-say-that-different-plants-are-related/509888/9 "2009-09-14T02:29:14Z")
I think it depends on how you mean related. Related can mean relevant to each other. As in “I think the baseball on the floor, and the broken window are related somehow”. I see no reason why a creationist couldn’t say onions and garlic are related, even if they don’t believe in a common ancestor. ---
**Author:** ![Cagey\_Drifter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@Cagey\_Drifter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cagey_Drifter)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-creationists-say-that-different-plants-are-related/509888/10 "2009-09-14T05:05:18Z")
> [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](#): > > I think it depends on how you mean related. Related can mean relevant to each other. As in “I think the baseball on the floor, and the broken window are related somehow”. I see no reason why a creationist couldn’t say onions and garlic are related, even if they don’t believe in a common ancestor. This is a very puzzling comment to me. The baseball definition is completely different than one would use in a botanical context.