Science and Creationism: A View from the National Academy of Sciences

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 35 pages
• Published by: National Academy Press
• Edition: 2nd Edition June 1999
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0309064066
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0309064064
• Book Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.3 x 0.3 inches
• Weighs: 7.2 ounces

Reader Reviews
This short book is an excellent overview of the reasons scientist accept evolution. Since the creationist controversialists are not above employing equivocal arguments, I should mention that the National Academy of Sciences brings out the distinctions between facts, hypothesis, laws, and theories. In science, theories are well-established general explanations which provide a unified view of the sciences. The creationist controversialists love to play on a popular meaning of the term, which is roughly equivalent to hypotheses. It should be pointed out that creationists believe in special creations, supernatural interventions, to explain the origin of life. Creation in the sense of sustaining the universe in being is in no way opposed to evolution. In remarkably clear and compressed language, the authors discuss the ages of the universe, the galaxy, the earth, life, and human life. Based on radiometric dating, the earth appears to be about 4.54 billion years old. From fossil evidence, living organisms much like bacteria are known to have existed 3.5 billion years ago. The authors have a chart which shows when selected types of organisms evolved. The first hominids in the genus homo evolved about 2.4 million years ago. A large subgroup of special creationists, the young earth creationists, try to compress the universe, or at least the history of life, into 10,000 years or less. This totally ignores many different areas of science, and the only basis is their interpretations of the biblical texts. And, of course, as anyone who has discussed the issues with them knows, the creationists have never been able to agree on their interpretations of the biblical texts. Besides the sequences and dating of the fossil record, there are many things which point to a common ancestry. There are common structures in many different species, different distributions, similarities in their development, and more recently, advances in molecular biology. It is due to molecular biology that scientists have been able to deduce that the first modern humans originated about 100,000 to 150,000 years ago. For some reason, the special creationists have decided that evolution is somehow opposed to creation. Evolution is, after all, simply "descent with modifications." The National Academy of Sciences, however, does not deal with this lack of logic or their appallingly bad biblical scholarship. This book also deals with legal and other issues about teaching creationism in publicly funded classrooms in the United States. The federal course and the Supreme Court have decided that creationism is religion. Perhaps more significantly, it is bad science. This fine little book cannot cover the whole controversy completely, of course, but it is authoritative and well worth reading. It shows that evolution is a central unifying concept in biology, and that students really should have the opportunity of learning about it in the classroom. Creationism, since it is not good science and is not testable, should not be taught in science classes. Lest anyone should think otherwise, I should point out that I am a practising Christian, and have been all my life. As well, I have a particular interest in the history of the notion of creation.