The bottom line is the scientists have no real proof, just evidence. The great thing is, we can each believe what we wish!
You have got to be kidding. Why are you so afraid that the overwhelming evidence supporting human evolution will rock your world? It's okay. We evolved. Fit your Good into it somehow.
There are distinct differences between skulls from apes and hominids. Presumably there are enough characteristics in this find to allow the scientists to distinguish its hominid "status". Otherwise this wouldn't be described in such glowing terms.
No. Modern, self-correcting dating methods have an uncertainty of only about 1%.
When the article says "approximately seven million", it doesn't mean the scientists are guesstimating, it means that the reporter didn't want to confuse readers by saying "6.72 +/-.07 million years" (or whatever, I don't know the actual measurement). So he just decided to call it "about 7" and leave it at that.
Even if their science is good, they're still speculating. How do they know it's not from an ape?
Because it has a number of distinctly human characteristics that are not found in any apes. Thus the comment about a "combination of modern and ancient features".
The bottom line is the scientists have no real proof, just evidence. The great thing is, we can each believe what we wish!
But not all beliefs will be supported by the evidence as well as others. Some beliefs, in fact, will be in strict opposition to the evidence.