In an introduction to evolutionary biology, it may be useful to
make the following points to the students:
1) Science deals with the natural world, and attempts to explain
observed phenomena within that framework. It does not attach
any meaning or purpose (teleology), and cannot use a deity or
supernatural explanations for the phenomena. However, it should
be stressed that science does not exclude a deity as some sort
of ultimate cause, it is just that this is outside the realm of science.
On the other hand religion deals with meaning and purpose. In a
science class it should be stressed that science is taught, not
religion, particularly if there are students of different faiths.
2) Any theory in science, including the theory of evolution, is
a description within a scientific model to explain some natural
phenomenon, and is in principle falsifiable. The word "theory"
in science should not be confused with "theory" in common
parlance, which can mean a guess or a hunch. In science
we also have the theory of electromagnetism or gravity, which
creationists do not challenge.
3) Gaps in our knowledge in evolution, such as missing fossils
etc., should be pointed out to the students, including mistakes
and even frauds, and in particular any consistent errors in school
biology textbooks. It should be pointed out that there are gaps
of knowledge in all branches of science, including evolution, and
gaps in our knowledge does not automatically mean that one
particular version of creationism (presumably the ancient Hebrew
version) is true by default, that is just a God-of-the-gaps argument.
4) Following (3), any version of creationism, including the Hebrew
version, has to stand up on its own merits, not by default due
to gaps in scientific knowledge.
5) Creationism, in any form, is pseudo-science, as its claims are
based on revelation and belief, not on testable observations.
Indeed, where tests have been applied, such as the age of the
universe, the young earth creationist versions of the Judeo-Christian
and Islamic beliefs have failed. No mechanism is proposed as to
how creationism operates, other than Yahweh, Allah or the Great
Spirit did it miraculously, for respectively the Jewish, Islamic and
Navajo versions.
6) Following (5), the ancient Hebrew creation story is one of many
thousands from around the world. Without getting into any religious
dogma, why should it have any more scientific merit than any other
creation story. It should be pointed out that what matters about
Genesis, speaking as a Christian myself, is the theology behind it,
not the science.
7) Finally it should be mentioned that creationism is only one of
many dogmas that have dogged (pun intended) science over the
ages. Other recent examples are Lysenkoism under Stalin, and
Aryan science under Hitler. In all cases science is forced to be
conducted under a dogmatic claim of absolute and unquestioning
truth.
Christopher Sharp
Received on Wed Mar 16 17:05:24 2005
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