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Reactions to Creationism Series Vary 2. secular change-descendants of tors and reporters have all done the claim that the initial conditions, some organism vary slightly this. Usually they do it because and all the processes, that led to from the parent population, due they don't know better, or haven't the present state of living things to a selective process. (Exam- thought about it. Sometimes, it were entirely undirected and ple-bacterial resistance to appearsthat lumping all these phe- unguided. Behe's thesis is that antibiotics.) nomena together as one has been some of the biochemical mecha- 3. speciation-descendants of some a deliberate attempt to deceive. nisms that make life possible are organism vary, due to a selec- Alters says that Christianity so complex, and portions of them tive process, sufficiently from Today selected Darwin's Black Box: are so interrelated, that chance, the parent population, or two The BiochemicalChallenge to Evolu- alone, could not have brought all or more descendantpopulations tion, by Michael Behe (New York: of them into existence. He believes vary sufficiently from each Free Press: the use of "Darwin's" that some of them were designed. other, that they are classified as in the title is an example of unfor- Most Christians believe in a belonging to different species, tunate lumping) as its book of the designer, and rejectparadigms that or genera, or families. year for 1997, and wonders why exclude one, or seem to. 4. phylogeny-as speciation, but the book of the year was not about Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article-pdf/61/7/485/49126/4450747.pdf by guest on 26 September 2021 the populations are sufficiently a subject such as ".... how to get Martin LaBar different to be classified as to Heaven, how to live a better Professorof Science belonging to different orders, Christian life, or about witness- SouthernWesleyan University classes or phyla (Divisions, in ing...." (p. 103). If evolution, Central,SC 29630-1020 plants). encompassing all of the meanings 5. origin of life-the first living listed above, is taken as a fact Reactions to Creationism things arose by purposelessand of science, then Christianityhas a Series Vary undirectedprocesses from nonliv- serious problem with that science. ing matter. Although some sort If the universe came about solely by Dear Editor: of natural selection might have natural processes, undesigned and It may be argued that the cre- been involved in bringing this unguided by any supernatural being ationists are taking a new course about, it is not certainthat there or beings, then either God (or gods) in their activities; they are now was any such selection, or, if is not very important, and can be there was, that it was by the ignored, or there is no such God (or same sort of mechanisms that gods). Furthermore,the claim that the might have been responsible universe arose in that way is not a for, say, speciation. falsifiable (or verifiable) scientific 6. origin of everything-the uni- claim, but a belief statement. If the verse exists as a result of pur- usual presentation of evolution poselessand undirectedprocesses. claims that the universe, and life, came about by solely natural pro- There are, of course, Christians cesses, it is no wonder that Christi- (and others) who believe that all ans are not comfortable with the A, ' Look or most of the types of evolution ideas of evolution, or that a book no listed above did not happen. As criticizing that claim was selected further! Alters pointed out, there are also as book of the year by a Chris- many who don't reject all of these tian magazine. types of evolution. Actually, Behe has no quarrel Why, then, is "people's accep- with much of the usual presenta- tance or rejectionof evolution gen- tion of evolution: erally [reported at] close to a 50% THE SCIENCEBANK: alternatives to dissection rejection rate?" (Alters, p. 103). ... I have no reasonto doubtthat the available on loan. One reason is exactly that all six universeis the billionsof yearsold that it is. the definitions are lumped together as physicistssay Further,Ifind ideaof commondescent . fairly con- * Over 100 alternativesavailable. described as one phenomenon, vincing,and have no particularreason * You try the alternative for free. evolution, or Darwinism. to doubtit. (p. 5) * If you lil<eit, we tell you how Unfortunately, lumping all of to order your own. the categories together as if they What he does quarrel with, and were one phenomenon makes clear the fundamentalreason that many For a list of alternatives call Animalearn at 800-729-2287. communicationdifficult or impos- Christians have problems with sible. Christians, scientists, educa- evolution as too often presented, is www.aavs.org/htm l/d issection_alternatives.htm I LElTERS 485 increasingly emphasizing the sup- inspired by Darwinism. In recent implications of Darwinism would posedly negative moral implica- years Darwinism has had a pro- become senseless. tions of Darwinism, instead of try- found influence on ethics. This rel- Furthermore, it would be even ing to find its scientific weak- atively new current in ethics more profitable if educationalists nesses. Such a change of emphasis opened up new perspectives in the could not only teach ethics based in the anti-evolutionary strategy is understanding of moral behavior on Darwinism, but also encourage understandable, bearing in mind not only between humans but also students to get involved in some their recent unsuccessful attempts towards animals and nature in of the numerous ongoing projects at representing creationism as a general. Indeed, one of its main which are based on it, such as, for science, which are described in the characteristics is the expansion of example, the Great Ape Project (see sixth part of the history of the the boundaries of morality, so that Cavalieri and Singer's The Great confrontations between evolution- it encompasses not only humans Ape Project for details). In that way in they would not only learn more ists and creationists the USA but other living species (see, which has been published in this about Darwinism and its deeply among many others, R.D. Ryder's journal (Moore 1999). Indeed, it humane implications, but it would Speciesism, J. Rachel, Created From Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article-pdf/61/7/485/49126/4450747.pdf by guest on 26 September 2021 would appear that this was the enable them to make the world Animals: The Moral Implications of main line of attack on Darwinism around them better. Darwinism, P. Singer's Animal Eth- which was employed by B. Cross- ics: A New Ethicsfor Our Treatment lin (1999) in his reaction to the Goran Strkalj of Animals). Evolutionary ethics above-mentioned articles. Departmentof AnatomicalSciences It would appear that defense itself has become very influential Universityof the Witwatersrand from such attacks will be one of and even introductory books on 7 YorkRoad the major tasks for evolutionists ethics, such as D.D. Raphael's 2193 Parktown in the future. In that respect it Moral Philosophy, discuss its main South Africa might be profitable to introduce propositions. Once an elementary to students, at high school and knowledge of Darwinian ethics is university levels, as well as to the acquired all arguments concerning References general public, the basics of ethics the supposed negative moral Moore, R. (199). Creationism in the United States. VI. Demanding "bal- anced treatment." The American Biol- from ConnecticutValley Biological ogy Teacher, 61(3), 175-180. Crosslin, B. (1999). Opposing view offered. The American Biology i ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~............ Teacher, 61(3). I 113, 1 .Xq Dear Editor: I have really enjoyed The Ameri- can Biology Teacher.I could always . 8 _ = w ss#|S # w _ _..... -"-"s~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ count on finding new approaches to old concepts and new labs for new concepts to fill my curriculum and excite my students, introduc- ing them to the wonderful world of biology. I could, that is, until the last couple of years. I am tired of reading about your crusade against creationism. You have beat A Factand Fun-filledSafari through the it into the ground and frankly I HiddenWorld of MicroOrganisms have read enough. It seems that the Join our micronautexplorers aboard A.B.T. has become your personal the 1-millimeterCyclops submarine! platform from which to carry on Interactas never before with strange your monthly vendetta against cre- and deadly denizens of microspace, from Pond, Stream, Forest and ationists. Over half of the May 82 VAULEYROAD, P.O. BOX 326 Backyard!8 videos & guides make a issue was devoted to evolution. SOUTHAMPTON,MA 01073 captivatingintroduction for elementary Frankly there is a whole lot of 800-628-7748 Fax 800-355-6813 - high school kids. Great with our biology out there that you are over- Ask for our free catalog! living cultures! looking. Please get a life and get 486 THEAMERICAN BIOLOGY TEACHER, VOLUME 61, NO. 7, SEPTEMBER1999 back to the rest of biology or I clearly the notion of transfor- artificialselection, etc.) should will put my dues to better use. mation of a "kind" since be used so that the process "kind" among mammals resembles an evolutionary Glen E. Zwanzig, Jr. seems to be loosely synony- event as closely as possible. DuPont Manual High School mous with "species" rather Louisville,KY 40208 than some ill-defined, higher All this may be a tall order. [email protected] taxonomic category. However, with our currentlyfairly and increasingknowledge of 2. The process should be good mouse genetics, it should not be Dear Editor: observed and carefully docu- an impossible one. The successful Recently, ABT has published a mented from beginning to completion of such a research useful and laudable series of arti- end.
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