Why Are There Still Creationists?: Human Evolution and the Ancestors

The evidence for the ancestry of humans among apes is overwhelming, but the concept of ancestors is a powerful and universal one that transcends science and its quest for maximum accuracy. Jonathan Marks argues that the creation/evolution debate is not science versus religion and that thinking perceptively about values and meanings should be a key part of it.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 112 pages
Publication date: 02 July 2021
Publisher: Polity Press

The evidence for the ancestry of the human species among the apes is overwhelming, but the facts are never "just" facts. Human evolution has always been a value-laden scientific theory, and as anthropology makes clear, the ancestors are always sacred. They may be ghosts, corpses, fossils, or a naked couple in a garden, but the idea that you are part of a lineage is a powerful and universal one. Meaning and morals are at play, which most certainly transcend science and its quest for maximum accuracy.

Jonathan Marks demonstrates that the creation/evolution debate is not science versus religion. After all, modern anti-evolutionists reject humanistic scholarship about the Bible even more fundamentally than they reject the science of our simian ancestry. Widening horizons on both sides of the debate, Marks makes clear that creationism is a theological, not a scientific, debate, and that thinking perceptively about values and meanings should not be an alternative to thinking about science – it should be a key part of it.

Marks argues that creationism is not a scientific theory but a religious belief. He challenges the idea that creationism is a scientific theory by examining the scientific evidence for evolution and the lack of evidence for creationism. He also argues that creationism is not a valid scientific theory because it is not based on empirical evidence but on religious beliefs and interpretations of the Bible.

Marks also argues that thinking perceptively about values and meanings should not be an alternative to thinking about science but should be a key part of it. He suggests that science can be used to explore the natural world and to understand the processes that have shaped it, but that it cannot provide answers to the ultimate questions of meaning and purpose. He argues that thinking about values and meanings can help us to make sense of the world and to find meaning and purpose in our lives.

In conclusion, Jonathan Marks' book "Creationism's Trojan Horse" is a valuable contribution to the creation/evolution debate. He challenges the idea that creationism is a scientific theory and argues that thinking perceptively about values and meanings should be a key part of thinking about science. He provides a clear and concise account of the scientific evidence for evolution and the lack of evidence for creationism, and he suggests that thinking about values and meanings can help us to make sense of the world and to find meaning and purpose in our lives.

Weight: 226g
Dimension: 138 x 215 x 16 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781509547470