creationism — VOICES for REASON

Darwin’s masterpiece The Origin of Species was published 150 years ago today, and the truths Darwin discovered are now the cornerstones of modern biology.

Nevertheless, creationists are still trying to dodge the facts and distort Darwin’s science and legacy. The latest scheme is a creationist edition of Origin with an introduction that attacks Darwin personally and rehashes scientifically illiterate claims against evolution. The edition has been published by creationist Ray Comfort, a colleague of child-TV-star-cum-evangelical-fanatic Kirk Cameron, in order to hand out free copies to students on college campuses.

Check out this four-part exchange between Comfort and scientist Eugenie Scott of the National Center for Science Education. (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.) It is revealing, I think, of the hostility and utter ignorance of Darwin’s enemies, as well as the futility—Scott’s valiant efforts notwithstanding—of trying to engage in reasoned debate with people who are essentially anti-reason.

In his autobiography, Darwin said: “I have almost always been treated honestly by my reviewers, passing over those without scientific knowledge as not worthy of notice.” While this is too broad a dismissal of all nonscientist commentators, it certainly applies to those who willingly and militantly embrace scientific ignorance in the name of faith.

The Texas school board is voting this week on proposed changes to the science curriculum which would require students to learn of the “insufficiency of common ancestry” to explain life (See Text of Proposed Revisions to 19 TAC, Chapter 112, Subchapter C, §112.34.c.7B). The vote is the latest development in the ongoing efforts of “intelligent design” advocates to undermine science in public schools. And it appears to be a very a credible threat. Read the rest of this entry »

I wrapped up my speaking tour of the South last Thursday by giving my Darwin talk at UNC, Charlotte. It was a very nice way to celebrate Darwin’s 200th birthday, although nobody brought any cake, unfortunately. I even managed to attract a few student supporters of “intelligent design,” which made for a lively Q&A session after the talk.

One audience member asked an interesting question, which I thought was worth blogging about. He asked, in essence, why can’t creationism coexist with evolution? Aren’t they just two different perspectives on the same question, each with its own merits?

Read the rest of this entry »

There is a growing tradition of celebrating Darwin’s birthday as an occasion to promote science and reason.

 Why Darwin as opposed to, say, Isaac Newton? (Well, we do celebrate on Newton’s birthday, but only by coincidence: he was born on December 25th!)

 I think Darwin’s birthday is an important occasion to celebrate in the spirit of fighting back against the anti-science, anti-reason viewpoint put forward by creationism and its evolutionary descendant, “intelligent design.”

 Ayn Rand certainly reacted with a fighting spirit when she encountered creationism in the early ’80s. In a 1981 talk at the Ford Hall Forum in Boston (“The Age of Mediocrity,” published in The Objectivist Forum), she explained the philosophic roots of creationism’s attack on science. Commenting on its threat to science education, she said:

To claim that the mystics’ mythology, or inventions, or superstitions are as valid as scientific theories, and to offer this claim to the unformed minds of children, is a moral crime.  

In the face of that moral crime, it is an act of justice to celebrate a man who worked so hard to advance human knowledge and who exemplifies the rational pursuit of truth.