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Where Darwin Meets the Bible: Creationists and Evolutionists in America

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Witham's historical and sociological report on the current status of creationism in the United States mostly takes up where Ronald Numbers' THE CREATIONISTS leaves off. Readers will find much information about the new creationist movement that took off in the 1990s, but will also be exposed to the great diversity of thought within the ranks of the creationists and within those of religious scientists (most of whom are also evolutionists) more generally. There is precious little critical analysis in this book, so those who want answers in the creationism vs. evolution controversy will need to look elsewhere (for instance, to Robert T. Pennock's TOWER OF BABEL and Kenneth R. Miller's FINDING DARWIN'S GOD), but anyone interested in getting a broad overview of the modern interaction (or lack thereof) between evolutionary biology and religion will appreciate Witham's work very much.

All indications are that the creation-evolution controversy will continue to heat up as time goes on. Now that Ohio science standards encourage science teachers to include information critical of neoDarwinism when covering evolution, a need exits for more information about the controversy. This book could not have come at a better time. It is also an area I have much interest in. My field is evolutionary biology, and I have become more and more aware of new research that has raised major questions about the orthodox interpretation of neoDarwinism. For this reason the creation-evolution issue is of much interest to me and many others. Actually, I have been researching this topic for over 30 years now and, in my judgment, this book is without question one of the most important works about the creation-evolution ever published (even better than Ron Number's book). Most books and articles on this topic show clear emotional hostility toward one side or the other, and repeat the same incorrect misconceptions almost without end. This book is an honest attempt to look at the whole issue from the eyes of each side and it succeeded very well. The author has done his homework (the 200 interviews and 40 pages of notes, for example, show this). I detected not one major error and only a few very minor errors (unusual in a book on this topic). Witham does a great job covering the different competing schools of Darwinism and briefly summarizing their differences. Witham also clearly shows that, in spite of the almost universal pernicious labeling, the views on this controversy do not form a dichotomy, but exist on a continuum. I predict that his book will become the standard text in this area and will be referred to as a breakthrough work in the future.

Creationism and Evolution have been at loggerheads ever since Darwin's Origin of Species exploded onto the scene in 1859.

Particularly within the United States (which is the prescribed scope of this work,) the contest has been integrated within the political and social weave, especially in terms of education and public policy. Far from diminishing, the battle continues to rage and now the additional wrinkle of Intelligent Design is realigning and redefining the battle.

Witham does a remarkably good job of identifying the major players within the debate and the significant events. He remains remarkably neutral in terms of evaluating the validity of the arguments themselves, and sticks to providing a framework that any reasonable person from either camp, should be able to work through and come away with a better understanding of the issues and how they developed.

This is no small feat given the emotional depth that this argument plums on both sides.

Corallaries exist in terms of defining the arguments on both sides and the interested reader should be able to benefit from the bibliography what they are and where those sources can be found.

If you're approaching this issue in depth for the first time, or even if you already have taken a firm position, you should find this book valuable. You will come away with a better understanding of the history of the conflict and maybe even a better appreciation and understanding of both sides of the argument, if you can maintain enough independence to see it.

I was not originally going to review this book. It seemed at first too pro-intelligent design to warrant my consideration. It is pro-intelligent design to be sure, but it is also a serious book and requires serious discussion. Larry A. Witham, a "Washington Times" journalist, does what journalists do best, conduct interviews, in this case more than 200 of them, with scientists, theologians, a few politicians, a lot of pundits, some think tankers, and far too many cranks to chart the course of the public discussions concerning the politics of life's origin and change over time. But I was wrong, this works makes an important contribution, even if I do not agree with its premise.

The book is framed as a debate, although in reality there is no debate worth reporting. There is the evolutionary theory first advanced by Charles Darwin and modified and added to over the years by thousands of scientists. It is overwhelmingly accepted by the scientific community; there is no serious alternative to this theory that has even been advanced, let alone one that has gained any credence whatsoever among scientists. What exists is a rock solid consensus with evidence from virtually every scientific discipline, and a few crackpots here and there motivated more by their religious conceptions than their analysis of the data.

At the same time there is a debate, as Witham documents in detail, not over the science but in the political sphere as machinations to advance or condemn intelligent design takes place nationwide. At risk is the process of education, as intelligent design's supporters insist on its teaching along with evolution in science classes everywhere. That political debate is very much unsettled, and it is one of the key issues that will define the future. While all of my studies of this subject led me to support the theory of evolution, this is a useful and quite well done statement of this political situation. I applaud the author for presenting it.

While I overall enjoyed this book, providing as it did a number of interesting facts and observations regarding creationism in America, I was left feeling more than a little worried. Not because of what Witham was saying, but because of a number of factual errors in the text which left me wondering regarding the accuracy of his statements within areas that I am less familiar with. For example:

1. Chambers' "Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation" was published in 1844, not 1840 (p. 46)
2. The "Center for Science and Cultural Renewal" is actually the "Center for Renewal of Science and Culture" (actually, now it's the "Center for Science and Culture") (p. 69)
3. The statement that it was claimed that "Mitochondrial Eve" was "the ancestor of modern humans" is somewhat inaccurate (p. 89)
4. The Human Genome Project did not have the goal to "master the human gene" ... there is no "human gene" (there is, however, a "human genome") (p. 138)
5. The paleontologist who opposed evolution was Richard Owen. Robert Owen was a socialist thinker and industrialist. (p. 181)
6. It was Marvin Lubenow who documented the early debates (not Martin, p. 217).

None of this is fatal to Witham's argument. However, it does either indicate sloppiness on either his part, that of the editors at Oxford University Press, or the book's in-house reviewers. One is left distrusting the multitude of other facts he gives and doubting his "impeccable reportage".

In short, good but should have been better,

This is an invaluable, and balanced, account of the Darwin debate, with particular attention to the Creationist initiatives of the last generation, climaxing in the Intelligent Design movement with its battle for the schools. The many interviews include vignettes of most of the major players, and help to fill in the behind-the-scenes dynamics of the two camps in ways partisans do not. The period starting with Philip Johnson's Darwin on Trial is especially well covered.
Despite rooting for the science camp, I was struck by the rigidity of the scientific camp and the clear feeling one gets that this is an artificially created culture war that results from the disastrous legacy of reductionist theories promoted ambitiously to rewrite culture from top to bottom. The gang of crackpots that has made evolution service their atheist obsessions has distorted its whole development. That's not a statement in favor of theism in evolution, but of deceptive science used to promote an agenda based on bogus proofs by natural selection. The integrity of science is at risk. The metaphysics of atheism is as severe as the theistic. This has distorted the exposure of the flaws in the theory, all along.
It could never have succeeded and we see the growth of resistance.
What seems surprising and sad is how little the broader spectrum of culture beyond the Creationist niche is aware of or involved in the issues. This abdication of the field by mainstream culture is a puzzle, for the problems with Darwin's theory are not so hard to uncover. One reason is the clear disinformation of overly promoted and under-examined scientism. Part if the reason is the savage attack on the 'two cultures' which were put there to cooperate by constructively opposites perspectives. Now noone would dare think aloud lest they get mauled by the mad horde in the Dawkins jihad.
Since much of the debate is about schools one is struck by the tenacity of scientific obtuseness on evolution, and one must conclude that specialized education is to blame. Scientists tend to be very good about technical subjects but unable to see the broader implications of Darwinism and the harm done by positivistic thinking made general in the name of science. This has nothing to do with religion versus science, as such, and indicates the one dimensional attitude that science in general explains everything, and Darwinism in particular is the great world historical breakthrough that is was not.
This is a very thorough book, and recommended for coming to grips with the cultural politics of evolution.
We need a debriefing of Darwin sometime soon. But the Darwin establishment as this book indicates is so entrenched that this seems unlikely.
It is a scandal that fundamentalists have been the principal party to perform this task. Since I dislike Creationism, that is saying something!