Download Evolution vs. Creationism

Evolution and Creationism:
What Everyone Needs to Know
Science =
-- a “Way of knowing”
-- materialistic/naturalistic
-- hypotheses that are testable and
provisional
Science 
-- certainty
-- ethics
-- values
-- religion
-- politics
-- the answer for every question
-- all of human thought
Organic Evolution
Definitions: The hypothesis that
all organisms on Earth are
connected by bonds of genealogy
and have changed through time.
Darwin: “descent with
modification”
The Origin tried to do 2 things:
• 1) Convince the reader that evolution has
occurred and is an adequate explanation for
observations about life.
• 2) Convince the reader that a particular
mechanism – natural selection – is the main
cause of evolution.
Evolution is scientifically useful.
! it is testable
! it answers questions
! it stimulates further research
“How did organisms come to be
the way they are?”
• They have a history.
• They don’t. They were created as we see
them.
• We can extrapolate from changes we
observe today.
• We cannot extrapolate from changes we
observe today.
Evidence for Evolution
•
•
•
•
•
•
1) Biogeography
2) Fossil record
3) Classification
4) Comparative Anatomy
5) Observed small-scale changes
6) Genetics
Evidence for Evolution: Biogeography
Evidence for Evolution: Biogeography
Evidence for Evolution: Biogeography
Toucan (Neotropics)
Hornbill (SE Asia)
Evidence for Evolution: The fossil record
Archaeopteryx and modern pigeon
Archaeopteryx
Compsognathus
Evidence for Evolution: Comparative Anatomy
North Atlantic Right Whale
“3 unarguable observations
and 2 inescapable conclusions”
• Observations:
– 1) There is variation
– 2) At least some of it is inherited
– 3) There is vast overproduction
• Conclusions:
– 1) There is a “struggle for existence”.
– 2) On average, those individual organisms with traits
that confer some advantage in this struggle will leave
more offspring.
“Creationism”
isn’t science
Creationism: a definition
• General: The Universe, the Earth, and all
life were created directly by a supernatural
creator (God).
• Variations:
– young Earth vs. old Earth
– one creation (“special”) vs. many (“sequential”)
– non-humans vs. humans
Creationism: a taxonomy
• Scientific creationism (no reliance on Biblical
revelation, utilizing only scientific data)
• Biblical creationism (no reliance on scientific
data, using only the Bible)
• Scientific Biblical creationism (full reliance
on Bible, but also using science)
(from Scott, Evolution vs. Creationism, 2004)
Intelligent Design:
what is it?
• Holds that “where there is a watch, there
must be a watchmaker”.
• Living things are too complex not to have
been designed by an intelligent designer.
• Claims to accept evolution and an old Earth.
Intelligent Design:
How to answer a question about it
• Even if it doesn’t mention God, religion, or
a “creator”, it assumes there is/was one.
• This is supernatural and non-testable.
• It’s not science.
U.S. public opinion, 2005
HALF OF AMERICANS ARE “CREATIONISTS”
• 54% do not think human beings developed from
earlier species (up from 46 percent in 1994)
• 49% believe plants and animals have evolved from
some other species; 45% do not believe that.
• 46% believe apes and humans have a common
ancestry; 47% believe we do not.
• 46% agree that "Darwin’s theory of evolution is
proven by fossil discoveries“; 48% disagree.
Source: Harris poll, June 2005
Poll by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life,
conducted July 2005 among 2,000 U.S. adults
• Life has existed in its present form since the
beginning of time: 42%
• Life has evolved over time: 48%
– Guided by a supreme being: 18%
– Evolution by natural selection: 26%
– Don’t know how evolved: 4%
• Don’t know: 10%
Polls 2001
BUT
• “Evolution should be taught in the public schools”
(70%)
• “The continents on which we live have been
moving their location for millions of years...”.
(79%)