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Creation vs. evolution debate

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Creation-evolution controversy

The creation-evolution controversy is a recurring dispute a debate most prevalent in regions of the United States where it is often portrayed as part of the culture wars.[1] While the controversy has a long history,[2] today it primarily concerns what should be taught as science in public schools, and what is good science.[3] In the United States, the teaching of biological evolution in the public schools is a significant area of contention, while the teaching of alternatives such as creation science and intelligent design (ID) are other aspects of the dispute.

In the first case, evolutionists argue that creationism should not be taught in the public schools because it is fundementally regligious in nature and not science. Creationists argue that evolution should not be taught because it is bad science or because it is an anti-theist ideology dressed up as science.[4] In the second case, concerned parents, educators, scientists, and other interested parties argue that creation science and intelligent design are not scientific; rather, they are viewed as thinly disguised schemes to introduce religion to the classroom. In the United States, recent court decisions have affirmed this position, consistently barring the introduction of creation science and intelligent design into public science curricula

Timeline of the Creation/evolution controversy

  • 1859 - Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species regarding the theory of evolution, after over 20 years of research and discovery. The theory's most radical tenant, "natural selection," attempted to replace the generally accepted idea of Created Kinds.
  • 1860 - Liberal theologians published Essays and Reviews supporting Darwin. A debate of Darwin's theory was arranged at the Oxford Museum, with Darwin's bulldog Thomas Huxley among its defenders and Samuel Wilberforce, the Bishop of Oxford leading its critics.
  • 1925 - The Scopes Trial tested the new Butler Act, which made it illegal to teach that man descended from animals in public schools. Scopes was found guilty and fined $100; prosecution lawyer William Jennings Bryan offered to pay it, but the decision was later set aside on a technicality after appeal to the Tennessee Supreme Court.
  • 1958 - The federally supported National Science Foundation started the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study publishes textbooks which emphasizes evolution as an organizing principle.
  • 1960 - The Genesis Flood by Henry Morris and John C. Whitcomb, Jr. reinvigorated the creationist movement.
  • 1968 - A U.S. Supreme Court issues its Epperson v. Arkansas decision repealing laws that prohibited the teaching of evolution and requiring the teaching of a creationism on the grounds that it violated the the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
  • 2004 - Intelligent Design researcher Stephen C. Meyer publishes a paper, The Origin of Biological Information and the Higher Taxonomic Categories in the peer reviewed journal Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington.
  • 2005 - U.S. Representative Mark Souder's office issues a report concurring with the U.S. Office of Special Council's conclusion that Richard Sternberg was subjected to a hostile work environment at the Smithsonian Institution in retaliation for his role in publishing Stephen C. Meyer's paper. See Smithsonian-Sternberg affair.
  • 2007 - Pope Benedict XVI publishes Creation and Evolution, where he writes "[It] is also true that the theory of evolution is not a complete, scientifically proven theory."[5]

References

  1. ↑ Larson 2004, p. 247-263 Chapter titled Modern Culture Wars. See also Ruse 1999, p. 26, who writes "One thing that historians delighted in showing is that, contrary to the usually held tale of science and religion being always opposed...religion and theologically inclined philosophy have frequently been very significant factors in the forward movement of science."
  2. ↑ Numbers 1992, p. 3-240
  3. ↑ Peters & Hewlett 2005, p. 1
  4. ↑ Hayward 1998, p. 2
  5. ↑ Creation and Evolution, Pope Benedict XVI, 2007, Sankt Ulrich Publishing. See also [1]

Sources

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