good book about creationism and

Good Book about Creationism and Science

I just finished reading Massimo Pigliucci's Denying Evolution:

Creationism, Scientism, and the Nature of Science. I highly recommend

this book as one of the best refuations of creationism out there.

Also, he gives a very nuanced view of what science can and can not

elucidate. While it won't change the minds of any die-hard

creationists, it is a good book for those on the fence (or those who

simply want to learn about science and evolution).

One point Massimo makes is that creationists are not stupid-this is

something many angry blue-staters seem to ignore. Rather, they are

biblical literalists and they fully understand the implications of

accepting (and denying) evolution. He concludes with the observation

that "Darwin has made a compelling case for scientists, but not yet

for the general public, that our species is neither the pinnacle of

creation nor the direct handcrafted job of a god....Perhaps in another

century or two, few people will find it strange to be the cousins of

chimpanzees and bonobos. Until then, we need to fight not in defense

of a particular theory, but for the privilege of attempting to

understand the universe."

It's going to be a long fight.

UPDATE: This morning, the Wall Street Journal published a story about

an evolutionary biologist who teaches at a fundamentalist college:

those experiences haven't stopped Prof. Colling -- who received a

Ph.D. in microbiology, chairs the biology department at Olivet

Nazarene and is himself a devout conservative Christian -- from coming

out swinging. In his new book, "Random Designer," he writes: "It pains

me to suggest that my religious brothers are telling falsehoods" when

they say evolutionary theory is "in crisis" and claim that there is

widespread skepticism about it among scientists. "Such statements are

blatantly untrue," he argues; "evolution has stood the test of time

and considerable scrutiny."

His is hardly the standard scientific defense of Darwin, however. His

central claim is that both the origin of life from a primordial goo of

nonliving chemicals, and the evolution of species according to the

processes of random mutation and natural selection, are "fully

compatible with the available scientific evidence and also

contemporary religious beliefs." In addition, as he bluntly told me,

"denying science makes us [Conservative Christians] look stupid."

Prof. Colling is one of a small number of conservative Christian

scholars who are trying to convince biblical literalists that Darwin's

theory of evolution is no more the work of the devil than is Newton's

theory of gravity....But Prof. Colling has another motivation. "People

should not feel they have to deny reality in order to experience their

faith," he says. He therefore offers a rendering of evolution fully

compatible with faith, including his own...

He finds a place for God in evolution by positing a "random designer"

who harnesses the laws of nature he created. "What the designer

designed is the random-design process," or Darwinian evolution, Prof.

Colling says. "God devised these natural laws, and uses evolution to

accomplish his goals." God is not in there with a divine screwdriver

and spare parts every time a new species or a wondrous biological

structure appears.

Unlike those who see evolution as an assault on faith, Prof. Colling

finds it strengthens his own. "A God who can harness the laws of

randomness and chaos, and create beauty and wonder and all of these

marvelous structures, is a lot more creative than fundamentalists give

him credit for," he told me. Creating the laws of physics and

chemistry that, over the eons, coaxed life from nonliving molecules is

something he finds just as awe inspiring as the idea that God

instantly and supernaturally created life from nonlife.

Prof. Colling reserves some of his sharpest barbs for intelligent

design, the idea that the intricate structures and processes in the

living world -- from exquisitely engineered flagella that propel

bacteria to the marvels of the human immune system -- can't be the

work of random chance and natural selection. Intelligent-design

advocates look at these sophisticated components of living things,

can't imagine how evolution could have produced them, and conclude

that only God could have.

That makes Prof. Colling see red. "When Christians insert God into the

gaps that science cannot explain -- in this case how wondrous

structures and forms of life came to be -- they set themselves up for

failure and even ridicule," he told me. "Soon -- and it's already

happening with the flagellum -- science is going to come along and

explain" how a seemingly miraculous bit of biological engineering in

fact could have evolved by Darwinian mechanisms. And that will leave

intelligent design backed into an ever-shrinking corner.

The Mad Biologist: I've never understood why Biblical literalism is

such an issue. Revelation may be divine, but the humans to whom

experienced revelation were not. Literalism posits that man hasn't

learned/discovered/had revealed anything in two millenia. If God had