Adam Laats - Creationism USA

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Oxford University Press 2021

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Laats, Adam, author.

Title: Creationism USA : bridging the impasse on teaching evolution / Adam Laats.

Description: New York, NY, United States of America : Oxford University Press, 2021. |

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020014319 (print) | LCCN 2020014320 (ebook) |

ISBN 9780197516607 (hardback) | ISBN 9780197516621 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: CreationismUnited States. | CreationismStudy and teaching. |

Evolution (Biology)United States.

Classification: LCC BS651 .L33 2020 (print) | LCC BS651 (ebook) |

DDC 231.7/6520973dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020014319

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020014320

To Liz, who asked me about creationism on the porch

Many people helped with this book over the years. First, I need to thank Ron Numbers, who sparked my interest in creationism and its history at the University of Wisconsin. I also appreciate the help of my friend and collaborator Harvey Siegel for many talks about the relationships among science, religion, knowledge, and belief. David Long has also guided my thinking about the nature of creationism and evolution anxiety.

In addition, this book was improved by the suggestions of many readers, generous with their time. Glenn Branch read the entire manuscript and pointed out several errors and mischaracterizations. Conversations with Glenn helped me revise my approach to this subject, especially regarding the tricky subject of labels. Bill Trollinger also read the full manuscript and gave me invaluable guidance. I benefited as well from comments from L. Herbert Siewert and Brendan Pietsch.

Michael Lienesch contributed a crucial letter of support. Im also grateful to Michael Lynch, the University of Connecticut Humanities Institute, and the John Templeton Foundation for fellowship funding. This book would not have come together if it were not for their assistance. The opinions expressed in this publication, however, are mine alone and do not reflect the views of those organizations.

Last but certainly not least, I want to thank Andy for inspirational housing as I wrote an early draft.

And if we dont disagree about evolution, why do polls keep finding large majorities of Americans who doubt this central idea of modern science? We see Gallup polls going back to the 1980s in which about four of every ten Americans say they think our species was created by God in pretty much its present form at some point within the past 10,000 years.

The idea that we dont disagree about evolution might also seem ridiculous to anyone who keeps up with the news. In the early years of the Trump administration, for example, the White House was full of creationist activists of one form or another: the vice president, the head of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the head of the Department of Education, to name a few.

It seems the creationism culture war is rampant. In northern Kentucky, for example, a vast replica of Noahs ark rises from the fields. Its owners want to teach America that dinosaurs jostled comfortably inside the ark along with two of every other kind of animal, riding out a real global flood that killed off all life just as the Bible describes. And they claim over a million people trooped through its exhibits in 2018, although critics charge them of inflating that figure.

Its not only Kentucky but also everywhere we look: Creationists seem to be teaching anti-scientific ideas about the origin of our species and the history of our universe.