THE COUNTER-CREATIONISM HANDBOOK

THE COUNTER-CREATIONISM HANDBOOK

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THE COUNTER-CREATIONISM HANDBOOK Mark Isaak University of California Press Berkeley Los Angeles London

University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic contributions from individuals and institutions. For more information, visit www.ucpress.edu. University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California University of California Press, Ltd. London, England The Counter-Creationism Handbook, by Mark Isaak, was originally published in hard cover by Greenwood Press, an imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc., Westport, CT. Paperback edition by arrangement with Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. 2005, 2007 by Mark Isaak All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical including photocopying, reprinting, or on any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from Greenwood Publishing Group. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Isaak, Mark, 1959 The counter-creationism handbook / Mark Isaak. [Rev. ed.]. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-520-24926-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Creationism. 2. Creation. I. Title. bs651.i82 2007 231.7'652 dc22 2006047492 Manufactured in the United States of America 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R 1997) (Permanence of Paper).

CONTENTS How to Use This Book List of Creationist Claims Preface Acknowledgments Introduction ix xiii xxiii xxv xxvii philosophy and theology................................................ 1 Ethics.............................................................. 1 Epistemology....................................................... 11 Foundation of Knowledge......................................... 11 Theory of Science............................................... 18 Scientific Method................................................ 25 Theology.......................................................... 33 biology............................................................... 43 Abiogenesis........................................................ 43 Genetics........................................................... 51 Molecular Biology................................................... 59 Physiology and Anatomy............................................. 64 Behavior and Cognition.............................................. 71 Botany............................................................ 76 Ecology and Population Biology........................................ 77 Developmental Biology............................................... 82 Systematics........................................................ 84 Evolution.......................................................... 87 paleontology........................................................ 103 Physical Anthropology.............................................. 103 Transitional Fossils................................................. 113

vi Contents Fossil Record...................................................... 128 Methodology...................................................... 141 geology............................................................. 143 Geochronology.................................................... 143 Geological Column................................................. 158 Sedimentation..................................................... 160 Evaporation....................................................... 167 Glaciation........................................................ 169 Mountain Building................................................. 169 Erosion........................................................... 170 Geophysics and Plate Tectonics....................................... 171 astronomy and cosmology............................................. 175 Earth............................................................ 175 Moon............................................................ 177 Planets and Solar System............................................ 178 Sun and Stars..................................................... 182 Cosmology........................................................ 184 physics and mathematics............................................... 191 Second Law of Thermodynamics and Information Theory................. 191 First Law of Thermodynamics........................................ 198 Radiometric Decay................................................. 198 miscellaneous antievolution.......................................... 201 History........................................................... 201 Linguistics........................................................ 202 Folklore.......................................................... 203 biblical creationism.................................................. 205 Biblical Creationism Generally....................................... 205 Biblical Accuracy.................................................. 208 Young-Earth Creationism............................................ 216 Age of the Universe............................................. 216 Death and the Fall.............................................. 218 Created Kinds.................................................. 221 Flood......................................................... 222 Miscellaneous Young-Earth Creationism............................ 242 Day Age Creationism............................................... 245 Geocentrism...................................................... 246 intelligent design.................................................... 249 ID as Science...................................................... 249 Detecting Design................................................... 254 First Cause........................................................ 262 Anthropic Principle................................................ 263 Meta-arguments.................................................... 265 other creationism.................................................... 267 Vedic Creationism.................................................. 267

Contents vii Native North American Creationism.................................. 267 Islamic Creationism................................................. 268 Bibliography 269 Index 321

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HOW TO USE THIS BOOK For those looking for information on a specific claim, the best place to start is the index. Page numbers in boldface refer to the information most relevant to the entry. The claims are grouped by topic, so if you are exploring a more general subject, the claims before or after a specific claim may be of interest, too. Cross-references to related issues are provided as well. For easier browsing, a brief version of the complete list of claims follows in the next section. For general background information as well as information that covers a topic in depth, readers are strongly encouraged to pursue the recommended readings and/or research the topic on their own. Much of creationism is folklore; it survives and spreads mainly by word of mouth. In fact, some of the claims here, such as the missing day and Lady Hope stories, are explicitly folkloric and are included in collections of urban legends. Inspired by this aspect of creationism, I have created an indexing system patterned after that used by Stith Thompson in his Motif-Index of Folk-Literature. Thompson organized folklore motifs in an outline form. For example, his section D includes motifs about magic; motifs about transformation of person to animal start at D100; D150 is transformation of person to bird; D152.2 is man to eagle. I follow Thompson in using letters for the main sections, prefixing everything with C (for creationism) to distinguish this numbering from Thompson s. Sections CA through CG contain claims against mainstream science. Sections CH through CJ contain claims for creationism rather than against evolution. Specifically, the sections are as follows: CA: Philosophy and Theology CB: Biology (including Abiogenesis) CC: Paleontology CD: Geology CE: Astronomy and Cosmology CF: Physics and Mathematics