Creationist Objections To Evolution

Creationist Objections To Evolution

Objections to evolution have been raised since evolutionary ideas came to prominence in the 19th century. When Charles Darwin published his 1859 book On the Origin of Species, his theory of evolution, the idea that species arose through descent with modification from a single common ancestor in a process driven by natural selection, initially met opposition from scientists with different theories, but came to be overwhelmingly accepted by the scientific community. The observation of evolutionary processes occurring, as well as the current theory explaining that evidence, have been uncontroversial among mainstream biologists for nearly a century.

Since then, nearly all criticisms of evolution have come from religious sources, rather than from the scientific community. In his book on Creationism, The Creationists, historian Ronald Numbers traces the religious motivations and scientific pretensions, of prominent creationists including George Frederick Wright, George McCready Price, Harry Rimmer, John C. Whitcomb, Henry M. Morris, and Phillip E. Johnson. Although many religions have accepted the occurrence of evolution, such as those advocating theistic evolution, there are some religious beliefs which reject evolutionary explanations in favor of creationism, the belief that a deity supernaturally created the world largely in its current form. The resultant U.S.-centered creation–evolution controversy has been a focal point of recent conflict between religion and science.

Modern creationism is characterized by movements such as Creation Science, neocreationism, and Intelligent Design which argue that the idea of life being directly "designed" by a god or intelligence is at least as scientific as evolutionary theory, and should therefore be taught in public schools. Their arguments against evolution have become widespread, and include objections to evolution's evidence, methodology, plausibility, morality, and scientific acceptance. The scientific community, however, does not accept such objections as having any validity, citing detractors' misinterpretations of scientific method, evidence, and basic physical laws.

Read more about Creationist Objections To Evolution:  Defining Evolution, Scientific Acceptance, Scientific Status, Evidence, Plausibility, Impossibility, Moral Implications, History

Famous quotes containing the words objections and/or evolution:

    Miss Western: Tell me, child, what objections can you have to the young gentleman?
    Sophie: A very solid objection, in my opinion. I hate him.
    Miss Western: Well, I have known many couples who have entirely disliked each other, lead very comfortable, genteel lives.
    John Osborne (1929–1994)

    The more specific idea of evolution now reached is—a change from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity to a definite, coherent heterogeneity, accompanying the dissipation of motion and integration of matter.
    Herbert Spencer (1820–1903)