Creationism USA

Abstract

Abstract Who are America’s creationists? What do they want? Why do they think dinosaurs were on Noah’s ark? Creationism USA reveals that misconceptions about creationism have led Americans into a full century of unnecessary culture-war histrionics about evolution education and creationism. In fact, America does not and never has had deep, fundamental disagreements about evolution. Not about the actual science of evolution, that is, and not in ways that truly matter to public policy. Americans do have significant disagreements about creationism, though, and Creationism USA offers a new way to understand those battles. Describing the history of creationism and its variations demonstrates that the real conflict about evolution is not between creationists and evolution. The true landscape of American creationism is far more complicated than headlines suggest. This book digs beyond those headlines to prove two fundamental facts about American creationism. First, by any reasonable definition, almost all Americans can be classified as creationists. At the same time, almost all Americans, including creationist Americans, want their children to learn mainstream evolutionary science. Taken together, these difficult truths about American creationism point to a large and productive middle ground, a widely shared public vision of the proper relationship between schools, science, and religion. These facts aren’t hidden, yet they remain surprising to those who do not understand the real world of American creationism. Creationism USA explains the history and current state of America’s true battles over creationism. It offers a nuanced but simple prescription to solve them.

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