Creationism and Creation Science
(Steven Engler)
The Creation Science of Henry M. Morris
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
The world, as it exists now, was created out of nothing by divine action.
This creation happened fewer than ten thousand years ago.
No subsequent development took place.
The theory of evolution is false, because evolution through natural selection
cannot explain the supposed subsequent development of all living beings.
Limited modifications of a sort can take place, but all species (current and
extinct) were created by God in the beginning: “speciation,” as proposed by
the theory of the evolution, does not exist.
There is no “common ancestor” of distinct species (e.g., human beings and
other primates).
Catastrophism, not the alleged geomorphic processes of the "science" of
geology, caused the Earth’s geological characteristics.
The most important geological event in history was the great Flood, as
described in Genesis, which explains, among many other things, the presence
of different sorts of fossils found at distinct geological layers.
Flood Geology (Morris)
1. In general, animals living at the lowest elevations would tend to be buried at
the lowest elevations, and so on, with elevations in the strata thus
representing elevations of habitat or ecological zones.
2. Marine invertebrates would normally be found in the bottom rocks . . . since
they live on the sea bottom.
3. …as the turbulently upwelling waters and sediments settled back down, the
simpler animal, more nearly spherical or streamlined in shape, would tend to
settle out first. . . .
4. Marine vertebrates (fishes) would be found in higher rocks . . . They live at
higher elevations and also could escape burial longer.
5. Amphibians and reptiles would tend to be found at still higher elevations . . . .
6. Mammals and birds would be found in general at higher elevations than
reptiles and amphibians, both because of their habitat and because of their
greater mobility. However, few birds would be found at all, only occasional
exhausted birds being trapped and buried in sediments.
Predictions of Flood Geology Falsified
1. Three explanatory principles (habitat, hydraulic characteristics, mobility) are
used in an ad hoc manner.
2. Marine invertebrates are found at all levels of the strata.
3. Certain types of fish are found only in more higher strata whereas others are
found only in lower strata.
4. Whales and dolphins are only found in higher strata whereas marine reptiles
of similar shape and size are found only in lower strata.
5. Large land mammals (e.g., ground sloths) are found only in higher strata
whereas certain more mobile mammals are found only in lower strata.
6. If the Flood happened as predicted by Creation Science, all birds should have
been exhausted, lacking perches.
Contrasting “Predictions” (Morris)
Evolution Model
Structure of Natural Law
Constantly Changing
Galactic Universe
Galaxies Changing
Other Heavenly Bodies
Building up
Types of Rock
Different in Different
Formations
“Ages”
Appearance of Life
Life Evolving from NonLife
Array of Organisms
Continuum of Organisms
Appearance of Kinds of
Life
Mutations in Organisms
Age of Earth
Fossil Record
Appearance of Man
Nature of Man
Origin of Civilization
New Kinds Appearing
Beneficial
Extremely Old
Innumerable Transitions
Ape-Human
Intermediates
Quantitatively Superior
to Animals
Slow and Gradual
Creation Model
Invariable
Galaxies Constant
Breaking Down
Similar in All “Ages”
Life Only from Life
Distinct Kinds of
Organisms
No New Kinds Appearing
Harmful
Probably Young
Systematic Gaps
No Ape-Human
Intermediates
Qualitatively Distinct from
Animals
Contemporaneous with
Man
Mutual Critiques
Creationist Critique of Evolutionary
Theory
“Just a theory”
Cannot be falsified
No predictive success
Leaves out ends/values
“Randomness” is just a mask for
ignorance
Can’t draw conclusions from evidence
in the past
Scientific Critique of Creation Science
Not a unified theory (just selects
examples to argue against science)
Easily falsified
Case-by-case after the fact
interpretation
Gets scientific ideas wrong (e.g.,
entropy)
Fails to distinguish apparent and true
randomness
Misunderstands nature of inferential
reasoning
Can’t explain emergence of organs with
complex functions
The fossil record has gaps
Attributes teleology
(complex structures can bring new and
different advantages)
 Fails to understand accumulation
and convergence of evidence
 Misinterprets nature of
categorization
 Focuses only on differences