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9.
Creationism versus Evolution
Fundamentalist
religious thinkers (from a number of religions) have sought to deny
the evidence from geology, astronomy, and evolutionary biology about
the age and gradual development of the universe, the Earth, and
its life-forms. (Recent creationist tactics have involved attacking
the Big Bang theory and radioactive dating, for example.) Some groups
have worked hard to get their own brand of "creation science"
into the public schools and to undermine the teaching of evolution,
one of the most fundamental and best-established ideas in modern
science. The literature examining this controversy is enormous;
the list below is merely a representative sampling.
Books
Berra,
T. Evolution and the Myth of Creationism: A Basic Guide to
the Facts in the Evolution Debate. 1990, Stanford U. Press.
Futuyma,
Douglasd Science on Trial: The Case for Evolution. 1983,
Pantheon. A leading evolutionary biologist explains the case for
evolution that the creationists seek to deny.
Godfrey,
L., ed. Scientists Confront Creationism. 1982, Norton.
A useful collection of articles.
Kitcher,
Philip Abusing Science: The Case Against Creationism. 1982,
MIT Press. A philosopher takes a critical look at the claims against
evolution and illuminates the issues involved.
McGowan,
Chris In the Beginning: A Scientist Shows Why the Creationists
are Wrong. 1984, Prometheus Books. A Canadian zoologist examines
and refutes creationist arguments.
Pigliucci,
Massimo Denying Evolution: Creationism, Scientism, and the
Nature of Science. 2002, Sinauer Associates. A biologist gives
the history of, explains, and refutes the various "brands"
of creationism.
Ruse,
Michael, ed. But Is It Science? 1996, Prometheus. A collection
of articles about the creationism/evolution controversy, by scientists,
philosophers, etc.
Ruse,
Michael The Evolution Wars. 2000, Rutgers U. Press. A history
of the creationist-evolution controversy.
Strahler,
Arthur Science and Earth History: The Evolution / Creation
Controversy. 1987, Prometheus Books. A discussion from the
geologist's point of view, with lots of information about dating
the Earth's rocks.
Tuomey,
C. God's Own Scientists: Creationists in a Secular World.
1994, Rutgers U. Press. An anthropologist examines the culture
of creationism as if he were looking at far-away tribe.
Wilson,
David, ed. Did the Devil Make Darwin Do It? Modern Perspectives
on the Creation-Evolution Controversy. 1983, Iowa State U.
Press. Interesting collection of essays, by historians, scientists,
and educators, laying out the history of the controversy and the
perspectives of the sciences.
Articles
Abell,
G. "The Ages of the Earth and the Universe" in Godfrey,
Laurie, ed. Scientists Confront Creationism. 1983, Norton.
Asimov,
I. "The Threat of Creationism" in the New York Times
Magazine, June 14, 1981, p. 90.
Bobrowski,
M. "Teaching Evolutionary Processes to Skeptical Students"
in Physics Teacher, Dec. 2000, p. 565. Includes a list
of creationist arguments and science teacher responses. Nice summary
of issues.
Brush,
S. "Finding the Age of the Earth by Physics or by Faith?"
in Journal of Geological Education, 1982, vol. 30, pp.
34-58.
Dutch,
S. "A Critique of Creationist Cosmology" in Journal
of Geological Education, 1982, vol. 30, p. 27.
Edis,
T. "Darwin in Mind: Intelligent Design Meets Artificial Intelligence"
in Skeptical Inquirer, Mar/ Apr. 2001, p. 35. An analysis
of the latest "guise" of creationism, "Intelligent
Design Theory." (On the web at: http://www.csicop.org/si/2001-03/intelligent-design.html
)
Rusk,
J. "Answers to Creationism" in The Planetarian (Journal
of the International Planetarium Society), Sep. 1988, vol.
17, No. 3.
Scott,
E. "Antievolution and Creationism in the U.S." Annual
Reviews of Anthropology, 1997, vol. 26, p. 263. A leading
pro-evolution educator summarizes the issues.
Wilson,
M. "Geology Confronts Creationism: An Undergraduate Science
Curriculum" in Skeptical Inquirer, Jan/Feb. 2002,
p. 52. A course for geology majors.
Web
Sites:
An
Ancient Universe: How Astronomers Know the Vast Scale of Cosmic
Time: http://www.astrosociety.org/education/publications/tnl/56/index.html
This special issue of an on-line newsletter for teachers sets
out to refute creationist claims of a young universe, and explains
how we know that the cosmos is 10-14 billion years old. (Produced
by the Astronomy Education Board of the American Astronomical
Society.)
National
Center for Science Education: http://www.ncseweb.org/
NCSE is the key organization working to oppose the efforts of
creationists and to assist educators who want to present the evolutionary
perspective. Their site is full of excellent information and links,
with particular attention to current events and the political
struggles to prevent creationism from taking root.
Science
and Creationism is a short booklet from the National Academy
of Sciences, with a fine summary of the scientific perspective
on evolution: http://bob.nap.edu/html/creationism/
Talk.Origins
Archive: http://www.talkorigins.org
contains articles, essays, and discussion about all aspects of
the creation/evolution controversy. For an interesting example
of how creationists tried to use some recent astronomical results
to argue for a young universe, see: http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/supernova/snrfab.html
The
Age of the Earth: http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-age-of-earth.html
This useful page from the Talk.Origins site describes how we measure
the age of our planet and then dissects some of the common creationist
arguments for a younger Earth.
Questions
and Answers about Creationism/Evolution: http://vuletic.com/hume/cefec/index.html
A nicely organized summary of creationist arguments and scientific
responses.
Supernovae,
Supernova Remnants, and Young Earth Creationism by Dave Moore:
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/supernova/
(Discusses how some creationists misuse arguments about exploding
stars.)
No
Answers in Genesis: http://home.austarnet.com.au/stear/default.htm
is a site run by Australian skeptics that takes on creationist
claims aggressively.
Changing
Speed of Light Analysis: http://homepage.mac.com/cygnusx1/
One creationist idea is that the age of the universe could be
a lot less than astronomers think if the speed of light has been
getting a lot slower with time, so that light from distant objects
wouldn't have had to leave them so long ago. This site includes
a technical paper refuting this idea and links to other references
around the Web.
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