Creationists step up attacks on science

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"If you ask me, evolution is just another passing fad." 14 SOCIALIST ACTION JANUARY 1987 The idea that human beings and other living things are the byproducts of natural processes has come under attack. The challenge is not being waged on scientific grounds but on the grounds that this idea contradicts the version of creation told in the Old Testament.

The last law prohibiting teaching of the theory of evolution was removed from the books in 1970. Now the creationists are renewing their attack, demanding that equal time be given to the Biblical version in the schools. In recent years they have introduced bills in 15 states to this end.

In at least 27 other states, creationists have mounted strong lobbying efforts on boards of education and textbook-selection committees. In California and Tennessee, fundamentalist Christians have filed suits for revised textbooks.

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to rule on a Louisiana law authorizing "equal time" in the classroom for the creationist doctrine. A ruling is expected in July.

President Reagan supports the creationists. Evolution "is a scientific theory only," Reagan remarked. "But if it was going to be taught in the schools, then I think that the Biblical story of creation. should also be taught."

A centuries-old debate The Genesis version of creation came to dominate in Western culture with the consolidation of the Christian Church and its official sanction by the rulers of the Roman Empire. For centuries, the Bible was accepted as the framework for all scientific inquiry.

But in 1543, Nicolas Copernicus shattered the calm by publishing his theory of the heliocentric or sun-centered solar system. Copernicus's work struck the first great blow against the creationists because it put the home of humankind in its place-out of the center of the universe.

At the beginning of the next century, Johannes Kepler discovered that the planetary orbits are eliptical instead of circular and uniform, as Copernicus had thought. Kepler came to believe that the main goal of a scientific hypothesis was to explain phenomenon in accordance with reason and "its utility in common life," rather than to corroborate the Bible.

The geological record Science was soon to provide other challenges to the creationists. In the 18th century, the science of geology grew up.

Scientists studying the-stratification of rock formations seemed to observe a process of slow formation that contradicts the Biblical account of instantaneous creation.

In addition, fossils of extinct animals were discovered buried in the rocks. An explanation was provided that the fossils were simply unfortunate victims of Noah's flood-animals that had literally missed the boat.

But the fact remained that fossils were found in various strata of the earth, showing that they had not all perished at the same time. Also, fossils began to appear of extinct animals that were related death by Charles Lyell, who published his "Principles of Geology" in 1830.

Hutton's theory simply stated that the process that laid the stratified rocks was still shaping the earth, but too slowly to be seen in the brief span of human society. This meant that the earth must be much older than previously estimated.

The fossil evidence settled the debate, especially when fossils of extinct animals were found along with stone tools-which no theory of catastrophe could explain. But even if the earth had evolved, what was the place of humans in the scheme of things? On this question, for the time being, creationist theory remained unchallenged.

Biological science advances

In the 1730s, the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus originated the modern system of classifying plant and animal species. The connections that Linnaeus drew between various species provided theories of evolution.

Linneaus came to some rather advanced conclusions. "Show me a generic character," he wrote, "by which to distinguish between man and ape. I myself most assuredly know of none...But if I had called man an ape or vice versa, I would have fallen under the ban of the ecclesiastics. It may be that as a naturalist I ought to have done so."

A number of alternative theories to explain the evolution of the species arose during the 18th century. The most famous one was developed by Jean Batiste De Lamarck, who postulated that evolution proceeded through acquired characteristics that an animal could pass on to its young. Larmarck explained, for example, that giraties had acquired long • necks by generations of stretching for tall branches.

Charles Darwin eventually synthesized the best of the evolution theories into his theory of natural selection.

Darwin's theory states that those animals and plants that are more fit in the The fight over "Darwinism" began immediately and culminated the following year in a debate at the annual meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Science in Oxford. The protagonists were Thomas Huxley, Britain's most eminent geologist, and the brilliant orator, Bishop Samuel Wilberforce.

By the end of the debate, Wilberforce conceded defeat. Biology was firmly established as a science based on trying to discover how life works rather than fitting the facts into a religious framework.

Freed from its fetters, scientific discovery has proceeded at a breathtaking pace. Evidence has emerged in numerous scientific fields that confirms Darwin's theories.

In the 1860s, Gregor Mendel discovered genetics as the method of inheritance only several years after Darwin predicted such a mechanism existed. In 1869, deoxyribo -nucleic acid (DNA) was discovered. With the advent of more advanced microscopes at the turn of the century, cell division was witnessed and chromosomes were dis -covered and found to be made of DNA.

In 1944, it was found conclusively that DNA was the inheritance material. Tests showed that mutations within DNA continue in subsequent generations and account for whole new characteristics entering a population-and therefore new species arising. Further studies showed that DNA is the same in all living things.

In God's own image?

Anthropologists have unearthed hundreds of remains of extinct proto-human species. These discoveries more than any others have sealed the lid on creationism. Unless, of course, God also evolved from an apelike creature into a human-like one and OIE. • PRIMO • • DIE• SECVNOO.

gY. •DIE• TERTIO • • DIE 'QVARIO• VIE •QVINTO. •! •OIE SEXTU • La li created creatures in his own image all the way along.

Creationism has been put to rest by mounds of evidence. Nevertheless, its proponents in religion and the White House continue to demand that creationism be given "equal time" in our schools with scientific teaching. After all, some say, both creation and evolution are theories.

According to the "American Heritage Dictionary," a theory is "A structure of logic that brings together many diverse observations into an understandable whole." Evolution fits this criteria. But creationism does not have one shred of evidence to back it up. Not a fossilized fig leaf, not the jawbone of an ass—nothing.

Furthermore, people have used the principles of evolution to our advantage centuries before fully understanding them. We have bred both the Great Dane and the French poodle from the same creature. We have increased the volume of wool from a sheep from less than one kilogram of rough hair to 20 kilograms of soft wool. Evolution is not just theory. It is fact.

In defiance of the facts, creationism is encouraged by Reagan and other members of the ruling class. The bosses need a subservient working class to carry out their profit-making schemes. The creationists preach just such an attitude—one based on blind acceptance of authority.

Furthermore, if the universe is as old as science tells us, then people can begin to get a whole new picture of themselves and society.

If you compress the history of the universe into a single year beginning Jan. 1, then the earth isn't even in existence until about Sept. 14. Life emerges on Dec. 16. The first primates don't appear until Dec. 29, the first hominids on Dec. 30, and true Homo sapiens on the last day of the year.

All of recorded human history is compressed into the last 10 seconds, and the age of capitalism takes less than the final tick of the clock on New Year's Eve. This is a little unsettling to a ruling class that seeks to convince us that their power is eternal.

Creationism is a dusty relic of history. Next time you encounter a creationist calling for "equal time" for Biblical stories in the schools, you might suggest that a chapter explaining Darwinian evolution be inserted in the Bible alongside Genesis.