12/10/02
Creationism and
the fossil record
For
some people this may be a sensitive subject and it is not my intent to
disparage anyone's religious beliefs. I
have no trouble if someone believes, as a matter of religious faith, that the
universe, earth and life were created in six days. I have no trouble is someone believes, as a matter of religious
faith, that God has directed the evolution of the earth and life.
I
do have trouble if someone wants to claim that such views are scientific, that
there is evidence in the rocks and fossils for them, or that such views should
be presented as science in public schools.
I
want to make it clear that "creation-science", so-called, is an
attempt to present a particular religious viewpoint as science.
This
is an issue for me as a scientist who is concerned about the quality of science
education in this country: creation-science is bad science. It's an attempt to mold the facts of
biology, geology and astronomy into a particular biblical framework.
It's
also a constitutional issue: federal
courts have consistently held that teaching creationism in public schools is a
violation of the first amendment prohibition against the state's establishment
of religion.
The
people who are part of the creationist movement are sincere, most are
personally very pleasant and polite.
With few exceptions, they have never been hostile toward me. They welcome my interest and are eager to
show me the error of my ways. They have
their point of view and I respect that -- even though I disagree with it.
It
is not my place to tell them that their religious views are wrong. I would never presume to do that. However, it is not their place to
determine what is science nor is it their place to determine the content of
public science education in this country.
Creationism is a
theory of the universe, earth and life that argues that the Universe and the
earth were created by an intelligent, knowing creator a relatively short time
ago (on the order of tens of thousands of years), and that the major, basic
kinds of plants, animals and humans were also created a short time ago and have
not undergone any major changes since their initial creation.
The viewpoints
of creationism basically argue against much astronomy, geology, and biology,
although the controversy frequently focuses on evolution alone.
What I want to
do here is consider the history of creationism: its origins in England, its
development in the United States, the principal arguments of creationism today,
and the legal and educational aspects of the creationist movement. In short, I will talk about the
"Evolution of Creationism"
I'll pick up the
story in 1859, the year in which Darwin published his famous book "The
Origin of Species", basically a long argument in favor of new species
arising from pre-existing species by means of natural selection (later dubbed
"the survival of the fittest").
You will find almost nothing in this book about the origin of humans or
their evolution.
"Light will
be thrown on the origin of man and his history"
But people
certainly knew what the implications of Darwin's theory was. I've always thought that no-one would object
to evolution so long as only applied to non-human forms of life.
By 1860, one
year after publication of the publication of The Origin of Species,
there were four types of objection to the
idea of evolution via natural selection. Each of these came out in a famous debate (famous in retrospect,
not at the time)at Oxford, at the meeting of the British Association for the
Advancement of Science. One of the
principal speakers against Darwin's ideas was the bishop of Oxford, Samuel
Wilberforce. Speaking in favor was not
Darwin, but his champion, Thomas Huxley.
1. It was scientifically wrong. Debates about brain differences in gorillas
and humans, the complexity of organs, the age of the earth.
2. It was morally repugnant. The death of weak and unfit individuals via
natural selection was seen by some to sanction or even encourage suffering in
both the natural world and in human society.
3. Personally insulting. The idea that humans were descended from
apes and even lower forms of life.
Wilberforce's jibe against Huxley.
4. Ran counter to a literal reading of biblical
scripture. Earth created only about
6000 years ago in a six day period, Noah's flood caused many geological
features. If the Bible was divine,
revealed truth, then evolution must be wrong.
What's happened
with these four objections in the 140 years or so since publication of Darwin's
book?
1. The scientific issues were settled rather
quickly. There is an overwhelming
amount of scientific evidence that indicates that all life is related through a
system of ancestry and descent, that new species form out of old ones, that
natural selection is effective in shaping organisms, that the earth is old,
etc. Debate continues on some aspects
of mechanisms, but no one doubts that evolution has occurred.
Evolution
as a fact - ancestry descent, new species arise from pre-existing ones.
Evolution
as a theory - natural selection as the principal mechanism
By
1880, only two prominent naturalists in North America remained unconvinced by
the Darwinian argument.
2. Morally repugnant. To suggest that the existence of death and suffering in the natural
world justifies death and suffering in human endeavor is a logical
fallacy. As humans, we can derive our
moral standards from our religious beliefs or chose our own moral standards
from what we think right and wrong. We
need not have "nature" force one on us. We are not prisoners of nature.
3. Personally insulting. Most people, I think, have gotten over this
and admit that humans are part of nature, rather than apart from it.
4. Counter to literal reading of the
Bible. This is still with us, and is at
the heart of what has come to be called "creationism". This motivation comes from a sect of
Christianity that is commonly called "fundamentalism".
Nevertheless,
this last point is perhaps the major motivation for continued attacks on
evolution that masquerade as if they are based on scientific issues..
In the United
States, perhaps the heyday of creationism, its strongest days, were in the
1920s, when laws against the teaching of evolution were passed in Tennessee,
Arkansas and Mississippi.
1925 Scopes
trial. - In 1925, a high school
teacher, John Scopes was convicted of teaching evolution. The trial (see Inherit the Wind) received
national attention and though Scopes lost, was often seen as a victory of
science over religion. Scopes' conviction
was overturned on a technicality but the law remained on the books - un-enforced- for many years.
1930's-present The campaign against textbooks
1960's -
1980's The campaign for state laws
mandating "equal time for creation-science and evolution-science"
1980's --
present Pressure at the local school
board level to weaken textbooks.
1990's - Faced with the continued difficulty in
getting creation in into the schools, tactics are changing. Efforts are being mounted to water down or
get rid of the evolution that is taught.
Make it "controversial" and scare away its coverage.
Recent
Alabama book disclaimer
1990's -
present. Intelligent design theory
As this
evolution of tactics should show, the creationist movement today is a mostly
grassroots, loosely organized effort to have its viewpoints introduced into
public schools.
It views
evolution and much of geology as atheistic, secular humanism, and threatening
the foundations of their religious beliefs (fundamentalist Christianity). - poster.
Creationists
will frequently attempt to make a distinction between what they call
"Biblical creationism" and "Scientific creationism". The former stresses the Biblical arguments
against evolution while the latter stresses evidence for a young earth, the
absence of transitional fossils, and other arguments based on scientific
grounds.
One of the best
organized groups promoting creationism is the Institute for Creation Research,
based in Santee, California (outside of San Diego). A creationist think tank.
They publish
newsletters, books, radio programs, videos, sponsor creation-evolution debates
around the country, participate in "back to genesis" revival meetings
at churches, and offer a graduate level curriculum in the sciences.
Examples of their
literature
Acts
and Facts
Answers
in Genesis
Morris
book
Gish
book
Ham
book & Creation ex nihilo
Austin's
book
Here, from their
own writings, is the basic content of creationism:
1. Special creation of universe and earth by a
creator [e.g., not through natural processes]
- God, Genesis
2. Subsequent deterioration of earth and
life. 2nd law of thermodynamics
(entropy) causes things to "run down". The curse and the fall from grace in the Garden of Eden.
3. Special creation of life by a creator. God and the six days.
4. Fixity of "kinds" - no
transitional forms between major groups. Small-scale evolution is OK, but birds
from reptiles, whales from terrestrial mammals, not OK.
5. Distinct ancestry of humans and apes. God and Adam and Eve.
6. Relatively recent origin of earth and life
(somewhere between 6 and 10 thousand years)
7. Earth's geology a consequence of a worldwide
flood. Noah's Flood, as in the
Bible. Note time scale on handout.
Some favorite
creationist arguments:
1. Geological dating of rocks based on invalid
assumptions. They assert that
radiometric decay rates are not constant and that biostratigraphy presumes
evolution. [Neither is true]
2. Probability. amino acids, proteins, organs, life are much too complicated to have
been form through chance. [No one says
they formed through chance, only that they formed step by step, rather than a
single full assembly of a human from raw chemicals.]
3. 2nd law of thermodynamics makes evolution
impossible. Evolution generates an
increase in order, while the 2nd law states that in a closed (from the input of
energy) system entropy (or disorder) increases though time. [But Earth and life
are not a closed system – they receive energy from the sun.]
4. No succession of appearance in the fossil
record. Human footprints with dinosaur
tracks, sandal prints with trilobites
show that all kinds originated at the same time and co-existed. Any appearance of order is due to the Flood.
[No support from the rocks]
5. No evidence for human evolution. Australopithecines were apes. All of 'em.
[Ignores important transitional features.]
6. No transitional forms. Archaeopteryx had feathers, it was
100% bird, not a transitional form with reptiles. Species to species transitions are just variations within
kinds. [Ignores data.]
Until now, the
creationist's efforts to get their doctrines and approaches into the public
schools has been largely unsucessful.
Wherever state legislatures have passed laws giving creation science a
place in the curriculum, these laws have been eventually ruled
unconstitutional, based on the Bill of Rights' first amendment calling for
separation of church and state. The
courts have recognized creationists for who they are - a group of people intent
on pressing their particular religious viewpoints.
Fighting back:
National
Center for Science Education
Watchdog,
support for high school teachers
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