View source for Unsolved:History of the creation–evolution controversy

{{Evolutionary biology}}
[[Unsolved:Rejection of evolution by religious groups|Rejection of evolution by religious groups]], sometimes called creation–evolution controversy, has a long history.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Montgomery |first=David R. |date=November 2012 |title=The evolution of creationism |url=https://www.geosociety.org/gsatoday/archive/22/11/pdf/i1052-5173-22-11-4.pdf |journal=GSA Today |publisher=Geological Society of America |volume=22 |issue=11 |pages=4–9 |doi=10.1130/GSATG158A.1 |access-date=2016-01-28}}</ref> In response to theories developed by [[Scientist|scientist]]s, some religious individuals and organizations question the legitimacy of scientific ideas that contradicted the [[Unsolved:Creation science|young earth]] pseudoscientific interpretation of the [[Social:Genesis creation narrative|creation account]] in [[Religion:Book of Genesis|Genesis]].

==Creation–evolution controversy in the age of Darwin==
{{Life timeline}}
Although the history of evolutionary thought dates back to [[Biography:Empedocles|Empedocles]] and other Greek philosophers in Europe (5th century [[Common Era|BCE]]), and [[Philosophy:Taoism|Taoism]] in Asia, and the history of evolutionary thought in [[Religion:Christianity|Christian]] theology dates back to [[Biography:Augustine of Hippo|Augustine of Hippo]] (4th century) and [[Biography:Thomas Aquinas|Thomas Aquinas]] (13th century), the current creation–evolution controversy originated in Europe and North America in the late 18th century. Discoveries in [[Earth:Geology|geology]] led to various theories of an ancient earth, and [[Biology:Fossil|fossil]]s showing past extinctions prompted early ideas of evolution, which were particularly controversial in England, where both the natural world and the hierarchical social order were thought to be fixed by [[Religion:God|God]]'s will. As the terrors of the {{wipe|French Revolution}} developed into the Napoleonic Wars, followed by economic depression threatening revolution in Great Britain itself, such subversive ideas were rejected, associated only with [[Social:Radicalism (historical)|radical]] agitators.<ref>{{Harvnb|Desmond|Moore|1991|pp=34–35}}</ref>
[[File:Charles Hodge.JPG|thumb|left|200px|Theologian Charles Hodge, a critic of Charles Darwin's theories, also praised Darwin for his intellectual honesty]]
Conditions eased with economic recovery, and when ''Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation'' was anonymously published in 1844 its ideas of [[Biology:Transmutation of species|transmutation of species]] attracted wide public interest despite being attacked by the scientific establishment and many [[Religion:Theology|theologians]] who believed it to be in conflict with their interpretations of the biblical account of life's, especially humanity's, origin and development.<ref name="JvW">{{cite web |url=http://darwin-online.org.uk/darwin.html |title=Charles Darwin: gentleman naturalist |last=van Wyhe |first=John |website=[[Biology:The Complete Works of Charles Darwin Online|The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online]] |publisher=John van Wyhe |access-date=2007-01-24}}</ref> However, radical [[Religion:Quakers|Quakers]], [[Religion:Unitarianism|Unitarian]]s and [[Religion:Baptists|Baptists]] welcomed the book's ideas of "[[Philosophy:Natural law|natural law]]" as supporting their struggle to overthrow the privileges of the Church of England.<ref>{{Harvnb|Desmond|Moore|1991|pp=321–322}}</ref>

''Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation'' remained a best-seller, and paved the way for widespread interest in the theory of [[Biology:Natural selection|natural selection]] as introduced and published by English [[Earth:Natural history|naturalist]] [[Biography:Charles Darwin|Charles Darwin]] in his 1859 book, ''On the Origin of Species''. Darwin's book was praised by Unitarians as well as by [[Philosophy:Liberal Christianity|liberal Anglican]] theologians whose ''[[Religion:Essays and Reviews|Essays and Reviews]]'' (1860) sparked considerably more religious controversy in Britain than Darwin's publication, as its support of [[Religion:Historical criticism|higher criticism]] questioned the historical accuracy of literal interpretations of the Bible and added declarations that miracles were irrational.<ref>{{Harvnb|Desmond|Moore|1991|pp=500–501}}</ref>

Darwin's book revolutionized the way naturalists viewed the world. The book and its promotion attracted attention and controversy, and many theologians reacted to Darwin's theories. For example, in his 1874 work ''What is Darwinism?'' the theologian [[Biography:Charles Hodge|Charles Hodge]] argued that Darwin's theories were tantamount to [[Philosophy:Atheism|atheism]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Hodge|1874|p=177}}; {{harvnb|Numbers|2006|p=14}}</ref> The controversy was fueled in part by one of Darwin's most vigorous promoters, Thomas Henry Huxley, who opined that [[Religion:Christianity|Christianity]] is a "...compound of some of the best and some of the worst elements of [[Religion:Paganism|Paganism]] and [[Religion:Judaism|Judaism]], moulded in practice by the innate character of certain people of the Western world..."<ref>{{Harvnb|Burns|Ralph|Lerner|Standish|1982|p=965}}; {{Harvnb|Huxley|1902}}</ref> Perhaps the most uncompromising of the evolutionary philosophers was Ernst Haeckel, who dogmatically affirmed that nothing spiritual exists.<ref>{{Harvnb|Burns|Ralph|Lerner|Standish|1982|p=965}}</ref>

A watershed in the [[Religion:Protestantism|Protestant]] objections to evolution occurred after about 1875.<ref name="numbers_1992_p_13">{{harvnb|Numbers|2006|p=13}}</ref> Previously, citing Louis Agassiz and other scientific luminaries, Protestant contributors to religious quarterlies dismissed Darwin's theories as unscientific.<ref name="numbers_1992_p_13"/> After 1875, it became clear that the majority of naturalists embraced evolution, and a sizable minority of these Protestant contributors rejected Darwin's theory because it called into question the veracity of Scriptures.<ref name="numbers_1992_p_13"/> Even so, virtually none of these dissenters insisted on a young Earth.<ref name="Numbers 1992 14">{{harvnb|Numbers|2006|p=14}}</ref>

The greatest concern for [[Philosophy:Creationism|creationists]] in the late 19th century was the issue of human ancestry. In the words of an 1896 [[Biology:Tract (literature)#Religious tracts|religious tract]]:
[[File:Editorial cartoon depicting Charles Darwin as an ape (1871).jpg|thumb|right|200px|A satirical image of Darwin as an ape from 1871 reflects part of the social controversy over whether humans and apes share a common lineage]]

{{cquote|I do not wish to meddle with any man's family matters, or quarrel with any one about his relatives. If a man prefers to look for his kindred in the [[Biology:Zoo|zoological gardens]], it is no concern of mine; if he wants to believe that the founder of his family was an [[Biology:Ape|ape]], a [[Biology:Gorilla|gorilla]], a [[Biology:Kinosternon|mud-turtle]], or a [[Biology:Monera|monar]], he may do so; but when he insists that ''I'' shall trace ''my'' [[Family tree|lineage]] in that direction, I say No ''sir!''...I prefer that my genealogical table shall end as it now does, with 'Cainan, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was ''the'' [[Religion:Son of God|''son'' of God]],' rather than invent one which reads, 'Which was the son of [[Skepticism|skeptic]], which was the son of [[Biology:Monkey|monkey]], which was the son of [[Biology:Oyster|oyster]], which was the son of monar, which was the son of ''mud!'''—a genealogical table which begins in the mud and ends in the gravel, which has a monar at the head, a monkey in the middle, and an [[Religion:Infidel|infidel]] at the tail.<ref>{{harvnb|Numbers|2006|p=15}}, quoting from Horace Lorenzo (H. L.) Hastings' tract, ''Was Moses Mistaken? or, Creation and Evolution'', Anti-Infidel Library No. 36 (Boston: H. L. Hastings, 1896)</ref>}}

Creationists during this period were largely [[Religion:Premillennialism|premillennialists]], whose belief in [[Biography:Jesus|Christ]]'s return depended on a quasi-literal reading of the Bible.<ref name="Numbers 1992 14"/> However, they were not as concerned about geology, freely granting scientists any time they needed before the [[Religion:Garden of Eden|Edenic creation]] to account for scientific observations, such as fossils and geological findings.<ref>{{harvnb|Numbers|2006|pp=14–15}}</ref> In the immediate post-Darwinian era, few scientists or [[Social:Clergy|cleric]]s rejected the antiquity of the earth, the progressive nature of the [[Biology:Fossil#Dating|fossil record]].<ref name="Numbers_1992_p17">{{harvnb|Numbers|2006|p=17}}</ref> Likewise, few attached geological significance to the [[Religion:Genesis flood narrative|Biblical flood]], unlike subsequent creationists.<ref name="Numbers_1992_p17"/> Evolutionary skeptics, creationist leaders and skeptical scientists were usually either willing to adopt a figurative reading of the first chapter of Genesis, or allowed that the [[Social:Genesis creation narrative|six days of creation]] were not necessarily 24-hour days.<ref>{{harvnb|Numbers|2006|p=18}}, Noting that this applies to published or public skeptics. Many or most Christians may have held on to a literal six days of creation, but these views were rarely expressed in books and journals. Exceptions are also noted, such as literal interpretations published by Eleazar Lord (1788-1871) and David Nevins Lord (1792-1880). However, the observation that evolutionary critics had a relaxed interpretation of Genesis is supported by specifically enumerating: Louis Agassiz (1807-1873); Arnold Henry Guyot (1807-1884); John William Dawson (1820-1899); Enoch Fitch Burr (1818-1907); George D. Armstrong (1813-1899); [[Biography:Charles Hodge|Charles Hodge]], theologian (1797-1878); James Dwight Dana (1813-1895); Edward Hitchcock, clergyman and respected Amherst College geologist, (1793-1864); Reverend Herbert W. Morris (1818-1897); H. L. Hastings (1833?-1899); Luther T. Townsend (1838-1922); Alexander Patterson, Presbyterian evangelist who published ''The Other Side of Evolution Its Effects and Fallacy''.</ref>

==Scopes trial==
Initial reactions in the {{wipe|United States}} matched the developments in Britain, and when [[Biography:Alfred Russel Wallace|Alfred Russel Wallace]] went there for a lecture tour in 1886–1887 his explanations of "[[Biology:Darwinism|Darwinism]]" were welcomed without any problems, but attitudes changed after the [[Social:World War I|First World War]].<ref name="moore06">{{cite episode |title=Evolution and Wonder: Understanding Charles Darwin |url=http://www.onbeing.org/program/evolution-and-wonder-understanding-charles-darwin/transcript/899#main_content |access-date=2014-07-25 |series=Speaking of Faith with Krista Tippett |first1=Krista (host) |last1=Tippett |first2=James |last2=Moore |author-link2=James Moore (biographer) |network=NPR |type=Transcript |airdate=February 5, 2009 |archive-date=2015-11-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151118040338/http://www.onbeing.org/program/evolution-and-wonder-understanding-charles-darwin/transcript/899#main_content |url-status=dead}}</ref> The controversy became political when public schools began teaching that man evolved from earlier forms of life per Darwin's theory of natural selection. In response, the U.S. state of {{wipe|Tennessee}} passed the Butler Act of 1925 prohibiting the teaching of any theory of the origins of humans that contradicted the teachings of the Bible. This law was tested in the highly publicized [[Religion:Scopes Trial|Scopes Trial]] of 1925.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Scopes Trial {{!}} Summary, Issues, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Scopes-Trial |access-date=2023-03-31 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> The law was upheld by the Tennessee Supreme Court, and remained on the books until 1967 when it was repealed. In 1968, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in ''Epperson v. Arkansas'' that banning the teaching of specific theories contravened the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution because their primary purpose was religious.

==Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) textbooks==
Work in genetics culminating in the 1937 publication of ''Genetics and the Origin of Species'' by [[Biography:Theodosius Dobzhansky|Theodosius Dobzhansky]], combining [[Biology:Mendelian inheritance|Mendelian inheritance]] with Darwinian natural selection, and explaining, through [[Biology:Neutral mutation|neutral mutation]]s, the source of the variation upon which evolution acted, led to a synthesis that brought together disparate fields of [[Biology:Biology|biology]] and other sciences into a strong, coherent explanation of evolution.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/history/modsynth2.shtml |title=Starting 'The Modern Synthesis': Theodosius Dobzhansky (2 of 2) |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |website=Understanding Evolution For Teachers |publisher=University of California Museum of Paleontology |location=Berkeley, CA |access-date=2014-07-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130523001230/http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/history/modsynth2.shtml |archive-date=2013-05-23 |url-status=dead }}</ref> A campaign ensued, urging schools to teach the "fact" of evolution,<ref>{{Harvnb|Larson|2004|pp=248, 250}}</ref> and in the 1960s, the federally supported Biological Sciences Curriculum Study<ref>{{Official website|http://www.bscs.org/|name=Biological Sciences Curriculum Study}}</ref> biology text books were introduced, promoting evolution as the organizing principle of biology.<ref name="Larson252">{{Harvnb|Larson|2004|pp=246, 252}}</ref> The belief in the power of science amongst biologists was running especially high: One of the prominent creators of the [[Biology:Modern synthesis (20th century)|modern evolutionary synthesis]], [[Biography:Julian Huxley|Julian Huxley]], made a religion of [[Philosophy:Humanism|humanism]], saying that a "drastic reorganization of our pattern of religious thought is now becoming necessary, from a god-centered to an evolutionary-centered pattern,"<ref>{{Harvnb|Huxley|1964}}</ref> and advocating the use of science to further expand human capacities.<ref>{{Harvnb|Huxley|1957}}</ref> Meanwhile, public opinion polls suggested that most Americans either believed that God specially created human beings or guided evolution.<ref name=Larson251>{{Harvnb|Larson|2004|p=251}}</ref> Membership in churches favoring increasingly literal interpretations of Scripture continued to rise, with the Southern Baptist Convention and Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod outpacing all other denominations.<ref name=Larson251/> With growth, these churches became better equipped to promulgate a creationist message, with their own colleges, schools, publishing houses, and broadcast media.<ref name="Larson252" />

With decreasing church membership among evolutionary scientists, the role of opposing the anti-BSCS textbook movement passed from prominent scientists in liberal churches to secular scientists less equipped to reach Christian audiences.<ref name="Larson252" /> Anti-evolutionary forces were able to reduce the number of school districts utilizing BSCS biology text books, but courts continued to prevent religious instruction in public schools.<ref name="Larson253">{{Harvnb|Larson|2004|p=253}}</ref>

==ICR and the co-opting of the ''creationist'' label==
{{main|Organization:Institute for Creation Research}}
John C. Whitcomb and [[Biography:Henry M. Morris|Henry M. Morris]]' influential ''The Genesis Flood: The Biblical Record and Its Scientific Implications'' was published in 1961.<ref>{{Harvnb|Larson|2004|p=255}}; {{Harvnb|Numbers|2006|pp=xi, 200–208}}</ref> The authors argued that creation was literally 6 days long, that humans lived concurrently with [[Biology:Dinosaur|dinosaur]]s, and that God created each kind of life. With publication, Morris became a popular speaker, spreading anti-evolutionary ideas at fundamentalist churches, colleges, and conferences.<ref>{{Harvnb|Larson|2004|p=255}}</ref> Morris set up the Creation Science Research Center (CSRC), an organization dominated by Baptists, as an adjunct to the [[Organization:San Diego Christian College|Christian Heritage College]].<ref name="Numbers 1992 284">{{Harvnb|Numbers|2006|p=284}}</ref> The CSRC rushed publication of biology text books that promoted [[Philosophy:Creationism|creationism]].<ref name="Numbers 1992 284" /> These efforts were against the recommendations of Morris, who urged a more cautious and scientific approach.<ref name="Numbers 1992 284"/> Ultimately, the CSRC broke up, and Morris founded the [[Organization:Institute for Creation Research|Institute for Creation Research]] in 1970.<ref>{{cite web |title=Who We Are |url=http://www.icr.org/who-we-are/ |website=Institute for Creation Research |publisher=[[Organization:Institute for Creation Research|Institute for Creation Research]] |location=Dallas, TX |access-date=2014-07-22}}</ref> Morris promised that the ICR, unlike the CSRC, would be controlled and operated by scientists.<ref>{{Harvnb|Numbers|2006|p=286}}</ref> During this time, Morris and others who supported [[Unsolved:Flood geology|flood geology]], adopted the scientific sounding terms ''scientific creationism'' and ''[[Unsolved:Creation science|creation science]]''.<ref>{{harvnb|Larson|2004|pp=255–256}}, "Fundamentalists no longer merely denounced Darwinism as false; they offered a scientific-sounding alternative of their own, which they called either 'scientific creationism (as distinct from religious creationism) or '[[Unsolved:Creation science|creation science]]' (as opposed to evolution science.)"</ref> The flood geologists effectively co-opted "the generic creationist label for their hyperliteralist views."<ref>{{Harvnb|Larson|2004|pp=254–255}}; {{Harvnb|Numbers|1998|pp=5–6}}</ref> Previously, ''creationism'' was a generic term describing a philosophical perspective that presupposes the existence of a supernatural creator.<ref>{{harvnb|Hayward|1998|p=11}}</ref>

==The Catholic Church and evolution==
Among the first recorded responses of a prominent [[Organization:Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] [[Social:Clergy|clergy]]man to Darwin's theory was that of [[Religion:Canonization|Saint]] [[Biography:John Henry Newman|John Henry Newman]], who in 1868, in a letter to a fellow priest, made the following comments:

{{cquote|As to the Divine ''Design'', is it not an instance of incomprehensibly and infinitely marvellous Wisdom and Design to have given certain laws to matter millions of ages ago, which have surely and precisely worked out, in the long course of those ages, those effects which He from the first proposed. Mr Darwin's theory ''need'' not then to be atheistical, be it true or not; it may simply be suggesting a larger idea of Divine Prescience and Skill. Perhaps your friend has got a surer clue to guide him than I have, who have never studied the question, and I do not [see] that 'the accidental evolution of organic beings' is inconsistent with divine design — It is accidental to ''us'', not to ''God''.<ref>{{Harvnb|Dessain|Gornall|1973}}</ref>}}

Some point to the fact that before ordination all Catholic priests have to study the teachings of Thomas Aquinas, who subscribed to an [[Biography:Aristotle|Aristotelian]] view of evolution, in which he posits that animal species evolve by means of mutations and natural law.

More recent statements have been made by [[Biography:Pope John Paul II|Pope John Paul II]]<ref name="JPII">{{cite news |author=Pope John Paul II |date=October 30, 1996 |title=Magisterium is concerned with question of evolution, for it involves conception of man |url=http://www.its.caltech.edu/~nmcenter/sci-cp/evolution.html |newspaper=L'Osservatore Romano |type=Message to the [[Religion:Pontifical Academy of Sciences|Pontifical Academy of Sciences]] |edition=Weekly English |location=Tipografia Vaticana, Vatican City |publisher=[[Organization:Holy See|Holy See]] |number=44 |pages=3, 7 |access-date=2014-07-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160321064939/http://www.its.caltech.edu/%7Enmcenter/sci-cp/evolution.html |archive-date=March 21, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and [[Biography:Pope Benedict XVI|Pope Benedict XVI]]<ref name="communion">{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20040723_communion-stewardship_en.html |title=Communion and Stewardship: Human Persons Created in the Image of God |date=July 23, 2004 |author=International Theological Commission |author-link=International Theological Commission |website=The Holy See |publisher=Holy See |location=Vatican City |access-date=2014-07-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140621050711/https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20040723_communion-stewardship_en.html |archive-date=June 21, 2014 }} Text developed during plenary sessions of the International Theological Commission held in Rome from 2000–2002, and published by the Commission with permission from [[Biography:Pope Benedict XVI|Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger]].</ref> that also support a theistic understanding of evolution.

The [[Religion:Catechism of the Catholic Church|Catechism of the Catholic Church]] acknowledges the way in which scientific discoveries can complement one's faith:<blockquote>The question about the origins of the world and of man has been the object of many scientific studies which have splendidly enriched our knowledge of the age and dimensions of the cosmos, the development of life-forms and the appearance of man. These discoveries invite us to even greater admiration for the greatness of the Creator, prompting us to give him thanks for all his works and for the understanding and wisdom he gives to scholars and researchers.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church - IntraText |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P19.HTM |access-date=2023-01-14 |website=www.vatican.va}}</ref></blockquote>The [[Organization:Catholic Church|Church]] also holds that the question of creation "goes beyond the proper domain of the natural sciences. It is not only a question of knowing when and how the universe arose physically, or when man appeared, but rather of discovering the meaning of such an origin..."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church - IntraText |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P19.HTM |access-date=2023-01-14 |website=www.vatican.va}}</ref> Concerning the scriptural accounts of creation in [[Social:Genesis creation narrative|Genesis]] the Catechism states:<blockquote>Among all the Scriptural texts about creation, the first three chapters of Genesis occupy a unique place. From a literary standpoint these texts may have had diverse sources. the inspired authors have placed them at the beginning of Scripture to express in their solemn language the truths of creation - its origin and its end in God, its order and goodness, the vocation of man, and finally the drama of sin and the hope of salvation. Read in the light of Christ, within the unity of Sacred Scripture and in the living Tradition of the Church, these texts remain the principal source for catechesis on the mysteries of the "beginning": creation, fall, and promise of salvation.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church - IntraText |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P19.HTM |access-date=2023-01-14 |website=www.vatican.va}}</ref></blockquote>

==The current controversy==
{{main|Unsolved:Rejection of evolution by religious groups}}
The controversy continues to this day, with the [[Philosophy:Scientific consensus|scientific consensus]] on the origins and evolution of life actively attacked by creationist organizations and religious groups who desire to uphold other forms of creationism (usually [[Unsolved:Young Earth creationism|young Earth creationism]] (YEC), creation science, old Earth creationism or [[Unsolved:Intelligent design|intelligent design]] (ID)) as an alternative. Most of these groups are explicitly Christian, and more than one sees the debate as part of the Christian mandate to [[Religion:Evangelism|evangelize]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://answersingenesis.org/gospel/world-missions/creation-evangelism-cutting-through-the-excess/ |title=Creation Evangelism: Cutting Through the Excess |last=Verderame |first=John |date=May 10, 2001 |website=Answers in Genesis |publisher=Answers in Genesis Ministries International |location=Hebron, KY |access-date=2014-07-25}}
*{{cite news |last=Simon |first=Stephanie |date=February 11, 2006 |title=Their Own Version of a Big Bang |url=http://articles.latimes.com/print/2006/feb/11/nation/na-creation11 |newspaper={{wipe|Los Angeles Times}} |access-date=2014-07-25}}</ref>

Some see science and religion as being diametrically opposed views which cannot be reconciled. More accommodating viewpoints, held by mainstream churches and some scientists, consider science and religion to be separate categories of thought, which ask fundamentally different questions about reality and posit different avenues for investigating it.<ref>{{Harvnb|Dewey|1994|p=31}}, and {{cite journal |last=Wiker |first=Benjamin D. |date=July–August 2003 |title=Part II: The Christian Critics — Does Science Point to God? |url=http://www.crisismagazine.com/2003/part-ii-the-christian-critics-does-science-point-to-god |journal=Crisis Magazine |publisher=Morley Publishing Group |location=Washington, D.C. |access-date=2014-07-25 |postscript=none}}, summarizing Gould.
*{{cite journal |last=Wiker |first=Benjamin D. |date=April 2003 |title=Does Science Point to God? The Intelligent Design Revolution |url=http://www.crisismagazine.com/2003/does-science-point-to-god-the-intelligent-design-revolution |journal=Crisis Magazine |publisher=Morley Publishing Group |location=Washington, D.C. |access-date=2014-07-25}}</ref>

In 1981, Harold J. Morowitz (Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University)  testified in the case of ''McLean v. Arkansas'' that dealt with “Balanced Treatment of Creation-Science and Evolution Science in the Public Schools.”<ref name = Morowitz1986>Harold Morowitz (1986 edition) Mayonnaise and the Origin of Life, Berkley Books Publishing Group New York, ASIN: B00151WGGO</ref>  The argument had been made in support of creationism that the [[Physics:Second law of thermodynamics|second law of thermodynamics]] precludes biogenesis by a natural process;  therefore there was a requirement for supernatural events.  According to the second law, isolated systems move towards the maximum degree of molecular disorder.  In this case, isolation means the absence of flows of both energy and matter into and out of the system.  In his expert testimony, Morowitz noted that in 1886 the physicist [[Biography:Ludwig Boltzmann|Ludwig Boltzmann]] had clearly pointed out that the Earth is an open system undergoing a flow of energy from the sun, and, because of this, the surface of the Earth is not limited by a law that is restricted to isolated entities.  Morowitz also pointed out that developments in the field of irreversible thermodynamics introduced by [[Biography:Lars Onsager|Lars Onsager]] indicate that systems become ordered under a flow of energy.  Morowitz therefore concluded that the existence of life involves no contradictions to physical laws.<ref name = Morowitz1986/>

More recently, the [[Unsolved:Intelligent design movement|intelligent design movement]] has taken an anti-evolution position which avoids any direct appeal to religion. However, Leonard Krishtalka, a paleontologist and an opponent of the movement, has called intelligent design "nothing more than creationism in a cheap tuxedo,"<ref>{{cite news |last=Slevin |first=Peter |date=May 5, 2005 |title=Teachers, Scientists Vow to Fight Challenge to Evolution |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/04/AR2005050402022_pf.html |newspaper={{wipe|The Washington Post}} |access-date=2014-07-22}}</ref> and, in ''[[Unsolved:Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District|Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District]]'' (2005) United States District Judge [[Biography:John E. Jones III|John E. Jones III]] ruled that "intelligent design is not science," but is "grounded in theology" and "cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious, antecedents."<ref>{{cite court |litigants=Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District |vol=04 |reporter=cv |opinion=2688 |date=December 20, 2005}} Whether ID Is Science, p. 89, and Conclusion.</ref> Before the trial began, U.S. President George W. Bush commented<!--reference for this? on the case and endorsed--> endorsing the teaching of intelligent design alongside evolution "I felt like both sides ought to be properly taught ... so people can understand what the debate is about."<ref>{{cite news |last=Bumiller |first=Elisabeth |date=August 3, 2005 |title=Bush Remarks Roil Debate on Teaching of Evolution |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/03/politics/03bush.html |newspaper={{wipe|The New York Times}} |access-date=2007-02-03 }}
*{{cite web |url=http://www.plts.edu/docs/ite_evol_fighting.pdf |title=The Evolution Controversy: Who's Fighting with Whom about What? |last1=Peters |first1=Ted |last2=Hewlett |first2=Martinez |author-link2=Martinez Hewlett |date=December 22, 2005 |website=Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary |publisher=Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary |location=Berkeley, CA |page=3 |id=Evolution Brief E2 |access-date=2014-07-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101129202440/http://plts.edu/docs/ite_evol_fighting.pdf |archive-date=November 29, 2010 }}</ref> Scientists argue that intelligent design does not represent any research program within the scientific community, and is opposed by most of the same groups who oppose creationism.<ref>{{harvnb|Larson|2004|p=258}}, "Virtually no secular scientists accepted the doctrines of creation science; but that did not deter creation scientists from advancing scientific arguments for their position."
*{{cite journal |last1=Martz |first1=Larry |last2=McDaniel |first2=Ann |date=June 29, 1987 |title=Keeping God Out of the Classroom |url=http://kgov.com/files/docs/Newsweek-1987-God-Classroom.pdf |journal=Newsweek |location=New York |publisher=Newsweek LLC |pages=23–24 |issn=0028-9604 |access-date=2014-07-22 |quote=By one count there are some 700 scientists with respectable academic credentials (out of a total of 480,000 U.S. earth and life scientist) who give credence to creation-science, the general theory that complex life forms did not evolve but appeared 'abruptly.'}}</ref>

==Timeline of the controversy==
* 1650 – Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh [[Biography:James Ussher|James Ussher]] states that the universe was created in 4004 [[Religion:Anno Domini|BC]], in direct conflict with the former prevailing Aristotelian view of a cyclical and eternal earth.
* 1785 – James Hutton presented his theory of [[Philosophy:Uniformitarianism|uniformitarianism]], explaining that the Earth must be much older than previously supposed to allow time for mountains to be [[Earth:Erosion|eroded]] and for sediment to form new rocks at the bottom of the sea, which in turn were raised up to become dry land.
* 1794 to 1796 – Erasmus Darwin published ''Zoonomia'' with ideas on evolution and all warm-blooded animals arising from one living filament.
* 1802 – [[Biography:William Paley|William Paley]] publishes ''Natural Theology: or, Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity'' which uses the [[Philosophy:Watchmaker analogy|watchmaker analogy]] to argue for the existence of God from signs of intelligent design in the living world.
* 1809 – Jean-Baptiste Lamarck proposed a theory of evolution by acquired characteristics, later known as [[Biology:Lamarckism|Lamarckism]].
* 1830 to 1833 – Charles Lyell published ''Principles of Geology'' denigrating [[Earth:Catastrophism|catastrophism]].
* 1836 – William Buckland, theologian and geologist, publishes ''Geology and Mineralogy considered with reference to Natural Theology'' which was sixth in the [[Philosophy:Natural theology#The Bridgewater Treatises|Bridgewater Treatises]] series and rejected a global flood.
* 1844 – Robert Chambers anonymously published the ''Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation''.
* 1857 – Philip Henry Gosse published ''Omphalos: An Attempt to Untie the Geological Knot''.
* 1859 – Charles Darwin published ''On the Origin of Species'' regarding the theory of evolution, after over 20 years of research and discovery. Darwin was prompted to publish by the publication of an essay by Alfred Russel Wallace, which independently summarized the theory. The theory's most profound element, "natural selection," challenged the generally accepted idea of divine intervention in species formation, leading to strong reactions to Darwin's theory.
* 1860 – Liberal theologians published ''Essays and Reviews'' supporting Darwin. [[Religion:1860 Oxford evolution debate|A debate of Darwin's theory]] was arranged at the Oxford University Museum, with Thomas Henry Huxley among its defenders and Samuel Wilberforce, the Bishop of Oxford, leading its critics. Later accounts indicate Sir [[Biography:Joseph Dalton Hooker|Joseph Dalton Hooker]] was most vocal in defending Darwinism.
* 1923 – ''The New Geology'' by [[Religion:Seventh-day Adventist Church|Seventh-day Adventist]] George McCready Price was inspiration and basis for Whitcomb and Morris' ''The Genesis Flood'' (see 1961 below).
* 1925 – The Scopes Trial tested the new Butler Act, which made it illegal to teach that man descended from animals in public schools. Scopes was found guilty and fined $100; prosecution lawyer William Jennings Bryan offered to pay it, but it was later set aside on a technicality after appeal to the Tennessee Supreme Court.
* 1950 – Pope Pius XII issued the papal encyclical ''[[Religion:Humani generis|Humani Generis]]'', which states that evolution is compatible with Christianity insofar as to discover "the origin of the human body as coming from pre-existent and living matter," but that to apply evolution to matters of spirituality is inappropriate. The [[Organization:Catholic Church|Roman Catholic Church]] has since refined its interpretations of Genesis as symbolic of spirituality.
* 1958 – The [[Organization:National Science Foundation|National Science Foundation]] started the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study, which emphasizes evolution in high school biology textbooks. This was part of a broad-based improvement of education in the United States in response to the launch of the [[Place:Soviet Union|Soviet Union]]'s ''[[Engineering:Sputnik 1|Sputnik 1]]'' satellite. (See [[Engineering:Sputnik crisis|Sputnik crisis]]; [[New Math]])
* 1961 – ''The Genesis Flood: The Biblical Record and Its Scientific Implications'' by John C. Whitcomb and Henry M. Morris reinvigorated the creationist movement.
* 1968 – A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the ''Epperson v. Arkansas'' case repealed all remaining creationist laws. The Court supported a District Court ruling that a 1928 Arkansas law violated the Establishment Clause because it prohibited the teaching of evolution.
* 1973 – Tennessee passed a law requiring textbooks with a theory of origin to give equal emphasis to the Genesis account of creation. In 1975, the law was ruled unconstitutional in ''Daniel v. Waters'' as a violation of the Establishment Clause.
* 1981 – The state of Arkansas adopts a law known as the "Balanced Treatment for Creation-Science and Evolution-Science Act" (Act 590). A ruling from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas in ''McLean v. Arkansas'' (1982) found the law to be a violation of the Establishment Clause.
* 1987 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in ''Edwards v. Aguillard'' that a Louisiana law requiring that creation science be taught in public schools, along with evolution, was unconstitutional because the law was specifically intended to advance a particular religion.
* 1991 – ''Darwin on Trial'' by [[Biography:Phillip E. Johnson|Phillip E. Johnson]] initiated the intelligent design movement.
* 1996 – Michael J. Behe wrote ''Darwin's Black Box'', which proposed that some biological systems are irreducibly complex.
* 1996 – On October 22, [[Biography:Pope John Paul II|Pope John Paul II]] sent the message to the [[Religion:Pontifical Academy of Sciences|Pontifical Academy of Sciences]], stating that "new knowledge" requires one to realize that evolution is "more than a hypothesis."<ref name="JPII" />
* 1999 – On August 11, the Kansas State Board of Education deleted discussion of evolution and the [[Astronomy:Big Bang|Big Bang]] from standards relating to state assessments.
* 2001 – The Kansas State Board of Education reinstated the discussion of evolution and the Big Bang after the removal of three board members.
* 2002 – After much debate, the Ohio State Board of Education partially adopted the new "[[Unsolved:Teach the Controversy|Teach the Controversy]]" initiative of intelligent design activists. In 2004, the board created a "Critical Analysis of Evolution" lesson plan for teachers.
* 2004 – On January 30, former U.S. President [[Biography:Jimmy Carter|Jimmy Carter]] released a statement condemning the suggestion that the word "evolution" be banned from textbooks used in schools in the state of Georgia.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=January 30, 2004 |title=Carter slams Georgia's 'evolution' proposal |url=http://www.cnn.com/2004/EDUCATION/01/30/georgia.evolution/index.html |work=CNN |access-date=2014-07-22}}</ref>
* 2004 – On February 19, Italian Education Minister Letizia Moratti issued a legislative decree that Italian children will learn about creationism. On April 23, top Italian scientists responded with an open letter and a petition, signed by more than 50,000 citizens, claiming that her proposal would sacrifice the "scientific curiosity of youth."<ref>{{cite journal |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Darwin in Italy |url=http://www.sciencemag.org/content/vol304/issue5671/r-samples.dtl#304/5671/677a |journal=Science |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=American Association for the Advancement of Science |volume=304 |issue=5671 |page=677 |doi=10.1126/science.304.5671.677a |issn=0036-8075 |access-date=2014-07-22|year=2004 |s2cid=150623047 }}</ref> Moratti clarified that her proposal did not ban the teaching of evolution, but rescinded the decree nonetheless and even acted to bolster the presence of evolution in Italian academic curricula.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Lorenzi |first=Rossella |date=April 29, 2004 |title=Darwin back in Italy's schools |url=http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/22818/title/Darwin-back-in-Italy-s-schools/ |journal=The Scientist |location=Midland, Ontario |publisher=LabX Media Group |access-date=2014-07-22}}</ref>
* 2004 – On July 23, the [[Religion:International Theological Commission|International Theological Commission]] issued a document, ''Communion and Stewardship: Human Persons Created in the Image of God''.<ref name="communion" />
* 2005 – The Kansas State Board of Education "scheduled six days of courtroom-style hearings" concerning the teaching of evolution.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Evolution on trial in Kansas |url=http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/05/02/life.evolution.reut/index.html |work=CNN |agency={{wipe|Reuters}} |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050503015144/http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/05/02/life.evolution.reut/index.html |archive-date=2005-05-03 |url-status=dead |access-date=2013-09-04}}</ref>
* 2005 – In September, [[Unsolved:Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District|parents in the Dover Area School District legally challenged intelligent design]] after a statement read to students claimed that there are "gaps" in evolution and that intelligent design is an alternative about which they can learn from the textbook ''[[Unsolved:Of Pandas and People|Of Pandas and People]]''. In December, the federal court in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, issued a sweeping decision asserting that intelligent design is just another name for creationism, that it is not science, and that it cannot be taught as science in public schools.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://blog.sciam.com/index.php?title=threw_the_book_at_em&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1 |title=Threw the Book at 'Em |last=Rennie |first=John |date=December 20, 2005 |website=Scientific American.com |publisher=[[Company:Nature Publishing Group|Nature Publishing Group]] |location=London |type=Blog |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060207151454/http://blog.sciam.com/index.php?title=threw_the_book_at_em&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1 |archive-date=2006-02-07 |url-status=dead |access-date=2013-09-04}}</ref>
* 2005 – In November, eight of the nine-member Dover, Pennsylvania, school board were voted out and replaced with a coalition of Democratic and Republican candidates who oppose the previous board's decision to introduce intelligent design and lay doubts on evolution. The coalition ran on the Democratic ticket. The newly elected board members agreed to not appeal the court decision in ''Kitzmiller'' and have removed the intelligent design requirements from the school district's curriculum. (See Teaching Intelligent Design: Incumbent Dover PA school board fails reelection.)
*2005 – On December 20, the court in ''Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District'' issued its ruling that intelligent design is a form of creationism, and that the school board policy requiring the presentation of intelligent design as an alternative to evolution as an "explanation of the origin of life" thus violated the Establishment Clause. In his ruling, the judge wrote that intelligent design is not science and is essentially religious in nature.<ref>{{cite court |litigants=Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District |volume=04 |reporter=cv |opinion=2688 |date=December 20, 2005}} Conclusion.</ref>
*2007 – ''Creation and Evolution: A Conference with Pope Benedict XVI in Castel Gandolfo'' is first published in German. While concluding a holiday in northern Italy, Pope Benedict XVI commented, "This clash [between evolution and creationism] is an absurdity because on one hand there is much scientific proof in favor of evolution, which appears as a reality that we must see and which enriches our understanding of life and being as such."<ref>{{Harvnb|Schuster|Spaemann|Erbrich|Christoph Cardinal Schönborn|2008}}
*{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Pope: Creation vs. evolution clash an 'absurdity' |url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/19956961/ |work=NBCNews.com |date=July 25, 2007 |access-date=2014-07-22}}</ref>

==See also==
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Unsolved:Rejection of evolution by religious groups|Rejection of evolution by religious groups]]
* [[Unsolved:History of creationism|History of creationism]]
* History of evolutionary thought

{{div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Citations==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book |last1=Burns |first1=Edward M. |last2=Ralph |first2=Philip Lee |last3=Lerner |first3=Robert E. |last4=Standish |first4=Meacham |year=1982 |title=World Civilizations: Their History and Their Culture |edition=Sixth |location=New York |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0-393-95077-9 |lccn=81018858 |oclc=7998534 |url=https://archive.org/details/worldcivilizatioburn00burn }}
* {{cite book |last1=Desmond |first1=Adrian |last2=Moore |first2=James |author-link2=James Moore (biographer) |year=1991 |title=Darwin |location=London; New York |publisher=Michael Joseph; Viking Penguin |isbn=978-0-7181-3430-3 |lccn=92196964 |oclc=26502431 }}
* {{cite book |year=1973 |chapter=The Oratory Bm May 22/68 |chapter-url=http://inters.org/Newman-Scarborough-Darwin-Evolution |editor1-last=Dessain |editor1-first=Charles Stephen |editor2-last=Gornall |editor2-first=Thomas |title=The Letters and Diaries of John Henry Newman |type=Letter to J. Walker of Scarborough on Darwin's theory of evolution, May 22, 1868 |volume=XXIV |location=Oxford |publisher=[[Organization:Oxford University Press|Clarendon Press]] |pages=77–78 |oclc=59190720 }}
* {{cite book |last=Dewey |first=John |year=1994 |chapter=The Influence of Darwinism on Philosophy |editor=Martin Gardner |title=Great Essays in Science |location=Buffalo, NY |publisher=[[Philosophy:Prometheus Books|Prometheus Books]] |isbn=978-0-87975-853-0 |lccn=93035453 |oclc=28846489 }}
* {{cite book |last=Hayward |first=James L. |year=1998 |title=The Creation/Evolution Controversy: An Annotated Bibliography |series=Magill Bibliographies |location=Lanham, MD; Pasadena, CA |publisher=Scarecrow Press; Salem Press |isbn=978-0-8108-3386-9 |lccn=98003138 |oclc=38496519 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/creationevolutio0000hayw }}
* {{cite book |last=Hodge |first=Charles |year=1874 |title=What is Darwinism? |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19192 |location=New York |publisher=Scribner, Armstrong, and Company |lccn=06012878 |oclc=1004320 |access-date=2014-07-26 }}
* {{cite book |last=Huxley |first=Julian |year=1957 |chapter=Transhumanism |chapter-url=http://www.transhumanism.org/index.php/WTA/more/huxley |title=New Bottles for New Wine |location=New York |publisher=Harper & Brothers |oclc=550463 |access-date=2014-07-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110522082157/http://www.transhumanism.org/index.php/WTA/more/huxley |archive-date=2011-05-22 }}
* {{cite book |last=Huxley |first=Julian |year=1964 |chapter=The New Divinity |chapter-url=http://www.update.uu.se/~fbendz/library/jh_divin.htm |title=Essays of a Humanist |location=New York |publisher=Harper & Row |oclc=550466 |access-date=2014-07-22 |archive-date=2021-02-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211062540/http://www.update.uu.se/~fbendz/library/jh_divin.htm |url-status=dead }}
* {{cite book |last=Huxley |first=Thomas Henry |year=1902 |orig-year=Originally published 1894 |chapter=An Episcopal Trilogy [1887] |chapter-url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15905/15905-8.txt |title=Science and Christian Tradition: Essays |volume=V |location=New York |publisher=D. Appleton & Company |pages=126–159 |isbn=978-1-4179-7372-9 |lccn=41030619 |oclc=634917253 |access-date=2007-01-14 }}
* {{cite book |last=Larson |first=Edward J. |year=1997 |title=Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion |location=New York |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-0-465-07509-6 |lccn=97009648 |oclc=36430743 }}
* {{cite book |last=Larson |first=Edward J. |year=2004 |title=Evolution: The Remarkable History of a Scientific Theory |location=New York |publisher=Modern Library |isbn=978-0-679-64288-6 |lccn=2003064888 |oclc=53483597 |url=https://archive.org/details/evolutionremarka00lars }}
* {{cite book |last=Numbers |first=Ronald L. |year=2006 |orig-year=Originally published 1992 as ''The Creationists: The Evolution of Scientific Creationism''; New York: Alfred A. Knopf |title=The Creationists: From Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design |edition=Expanded ed., 1st Harvard University Press pbk. |location=Cambridge, MA |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-02339-0 |lccn=2006043675 |oclc=69734583 |title-link=The Creationists }}
* {{cite book |last=Numbers |first=Ronald L. |year=1998 |title=Darwinism Comes to America |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, MA |isbn=978-0-674-19312-3 |lccn=98016212 |oclc=38747194 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/darwinismcomesto0000numb }}
* {{Cite conference |title=Creation and Evolution: A Conference with Pope Benedict XVI in Castel Gandolfo |first1=Peter |last1=Schuster |first2=Robert |last2=Spaemann |author-link2=Robert Spaemann |first3=Paul |last3=Erbrich |author4=Christoph Cardinal Schönborn |author-link4=Christoph Schönborn |first5=Siegfried |last5=Wiedenhofer |year=2008 |orig-year=Originally published 2007; Augsburg: Sankt Ulrich Verlag GmbH |editor1-last=Horn |editor1-first=Stephan Otto |editor2-last=Wiedenhofer |editor2-first=Siegfried |others=Foreword by Christoph Cardinal Schönborn; translation from German by Michael J. Miller |publisher=Ignatius Press |location=San Francisco, CA |isbn=978-1-58617-234-3 |lccn=2007938139 |oclc=228425433 }} "Papers from a conference held at Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Sept. 2006."
{{Refend}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:History Of The Creation-Evolution Controversy}}
[[Category:Creationism]]
[[Category:Evolution and religion]]
[[Category:Intelligent design controversies]]

{{Sourceattribution|History of the creation–evolution controversy}}