Antievolutionism: Changes and Continuities

Abstract

Three themes are constant in the antievolution movement. During the Scopes trial in 1925, William Jennings Bryan contended that evolution is unsupported by, or actually in conflict with, the facts of science; that evolution is intrinsically anti-Christian; and that it is only fair to take the desires of the taxpayers into account while developing the science curriculum. These three pillars of antievolutionism, as we call them, have formed a sturdy platform for antievolutionism from the Great Commoner's time to ours. Claims that evolution is a theory in crisis, that evolution is incompatible with Christianity, and that it is only fair to teach “both sides” appear in any arena in which the antievolution movement is active. The central arena for the antievolution movement is of course the public-school science classroom. But any public exposition of evolution—whether in public schools or in natural history museums, zoos, or national parks—is sure to elicit a backlash. And when the exposition is national and extensive, as it was for the PBS series Evolution (for which our employer, the National Center for Science Education, was a consultant), the backlash is tremendous. Two antievolution organizations, Answers in Genesis (AiG) and the Discovery Institute, attacked the episodes of Evolution as they aired in September 2001; both organizations subsequently published book-length critiques of the series. Unsurprisingly, the three pillars of antievolutionism are conspicuous in both.

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