Evolution And Religious Creation Myths

Polls show that 45% of the American public believes that humans were created about 10,000 years ago and that evolution is non existent. Another 25% believes that changes in the natural world are directed by a supernatural being with a particular goal in mind. This thinking clashes frontally with scientific findings obtained in the past 150 years. A large portion of the general public espouses the views of creationists and their descendants, and ignores or is unaware of scientific advances. Critical thinking about the natural world within a scientific framework is lacking in the USA and many parts of the world. This manuscript provides a multidisciplinary explanation and defense for the science of evolution (not just Darwinism) as it is being challenged by arguments for "intelligent design" and other creation myths. It draws in the life, physical, and social sciences, and recent studies of human evolution that rely much on the idea of change over time, which is evolution writ large. It puts the evolution/ID issue into international perspective by including opinions held in world religions other than Christianity. It is clearly written and also can easily be used as a guide for those with some science background. The authors make a convincing case that other books do not achieve this as much as they do in this work. The book is written for a whole spectrum of educated people including teachers and teachers in training who are interested in the broad issues of the origins of the universe, life, and humans, and who may not quite grasp the potential magnitude of the negative influence on all of science education of people embracing creationist and ID thinking. This includes high school teachers and people on boards of education and in municipal governments--anyone involved in education. It could be used also in college courses such as "contemporary social issues" and "Science and Society" -- sometimes team taught by sociologists and scientists. The authors show that when they are teleological, dogmatic, or politically inspired, religious and creation myths threaten scientific efforts. The book does not require any extensive knowledge of science. The principle of change over time pervades all of science, from cosmology, to the search for the origin for life, to human physical and cultural evolution. The book educates readers on scientific matters that overwhelmingly support the idea of evolution, not only in the living world, but also in physical and social science. It explains too how evolution -- physical and biological -- is a random, unguided process whose roots can be already found in quantum physics.

Human beings need creation stories. Each culture has one, and is defined in part by its unique explanation of how things came to be. Despite the many differences in the creation stories of various cultures, each seems to serve much the same purpose: to answer questions about humanity's role in the larger whole. The people of the United States are no exception. Since the late-19th century, however, the country as a whole has not been able to agree on a common creation story. Part of the discord stems, of course, from the growing cultural and religious diversity of the USA. But Karl W. Giberson and Donald A. Yerxa explain that most of it flows from the reality that Americans rely heavily on two competing, very distinct, worldviews: modern naturalistic science and traditional Judeo-Christian religions. The interplay of these two ideals is at the base of America's ongoing search for its origins. Giberson and Yerxa delve into this search and America's diverse creation myths, myths that the authors dub the species of origins.

Gives a description of evolutionary theory and analyzes the arguments of the creationists.

In his latest book, Ruse uncovers surprising similarities between evolutionist and creationist thinking. Exploring the underlying philosophical commitments of evolutionists, he reveals that those most hostile to religion are just as evangelical as their fundamentalist opponents. But more crucially, and reaching beyond the biblical issues at stake, he demonstrates that these two diametrically opposed ideologies have, since the Enlightenment, engaged in a struggle for the privilege of defining human origins, moral values, and the nature of reality.

Using the tension between evolutionists and creationists in Kansas in the late 1990s as a focal point, Deloria takes Western science and religion to task, providing a critical assessment of the flaws and anomalies in each side's arguments.

Even non-Christian scientists are attacking the traditional evolutionary theory still taught in many schools as fact. In 'Creation and Evolution' British physicist Dr. Alan Hayward draws evidence solely from these non-Christian researchers to discredit gradual evolution and Darwin's mechanism of natural selection. Hayward also examines in detail young earth theories, flood geology, and geological testimony to an ancient earth. In the end he suggests a surprising interpretation of Genesis that argues for both a historical Adam and creation over eons of time. Bowing neither to theistic evolution nor scientific creationism, Hayward writes from the perspective of a Christian physicist committed both to a high view of Scripture and to rigorous honesty with scientific data.

Conrad Hyers offers a welcome respite from the counter-productive effects of extremism that surround the creation issue. Focusing on the creation texts from the book of Genesis, Hyers interprets the biblical account in light of its relationship to its culture, context, and purpose.

Drawing from a variety of topics - biology, biblical chronology, and the origin of human language - and showing their relation to one another in solving this question, author Werner Gitt reveals that evolution is not only bad science, it also violates Scripture. Written for the layman, but with a scientific slant, this compelling book devastates Darwinian arguments for the origin of our universe and planet. In helping Christians answer attacks on their faith, Gitt addresses relevant subjects such as: the origin of man, the origin of human language, human behavior, the origin and future of the universe. Book jacket.