Why creationism is bogus

Press, 5 January 1987, Page 16

Why creationism is bogus

From

the ‘Economist,’

London

Science is on trial in America. The state of Louisiana wants equal time in school curricula for two theories about the history of man and the world: creation and evolution. A court ruled that this was unconstitutional, so Louisiana is appealing to the Supreme Court. Be clear what this argument is not about. It is not about religious faith. Many Christians are evolutionists, many Darwinians are Christians. Creationism does not offer any ideas on morality or spirituality — and it is not about who or what created the world but about what happened later.

Science says the world is billions of years old and can best be understood by the many hypotheses of cosmology, geology and evolution; creationism, that it is thousands of years old and was made in six days and reformed by a flood. It is right to teach children that there are different ways of interpreting history. But push that sensible scepticism too far and it becomes meaninglessly undiscriminating. Why not teach

them the Ramayana, the epic of Gilgamesh and Erich . von Daniken’s travellers from outer space as well? Few parents would like their children taught the Flat Earth Society’s theories on equal terms with those of serious geographers. To be open-minded does not mean to give equal time to every account, however implausible. Creationism’s claim to equal treatment as science must stand or fall by the evidence it brings forward. That eyidence is derisory and deceitful. By misquoting and misunderstanding, creationists have packed their books with assertions that the * theory of evolution is in trouble. For example, they say that Darwinism breaks the second law of thermodynamics. It does not. Creationists are fond of asserting that evolution and creationjism are both unproven theories. That is like saying that Apollo and a paper dart were both imperfect spacecraft. Evolution is supported by a gigantic body of facts and infer-

ences that have been and are exhaustively argued about. Within it are controversies and paradoxes, but none that supports creationism. And to bowdlerise geology, cosmology or anthropology so that they do not imply that the world is a great deal older than creationists allow would be to deceive children. The creationist crusade has deprived many of one of the richest intellectual traditions of modern times. In the Scopes trial in Tennessee in 1925, evolutionists won the laughs, creationists the verdict. Publishers began purging evolution rom biology textbooks so as to sell them in the South. After Sputnik in 1957, evolution was restored to textbooks, but it has been draining out again recently. In one leading biology textbook the number of words devoted to evolution has been halved in each of two successive editions between 1968 and 1981. That is intolerant mullahdom.

Copyright — the Economist