Scientific Creationism

Poul Anderson, "Science and Creation" IN Anderson, The Collected Short Works Of Poul Anderson, Volume 2, The Queen Of Air And Darkness (NESFA Press, Framington, MA, 2009), pp. 455-463.

Anderson quotes one of his own characters who said:

"'Sure, I'm anti-intellectual. I prefer people who think...'" (p. 455)

Which character was this? 

Anderson acknowledges that maybe this remark substituted rhetoric for discourse, which he has just accused others of doing, but defends it by saying that it got our attention.

Anderson agrees with scientific creationists that American public schools now teach secular humanism "...to the exclusion of crucial parts of our heritage." (ibid.) Which parts? He agrees that this educational shift has ominous implications for both liberty and national survival. How? He asks whether anyone's constitutional rights would be infringed if children learnt "...something about the roots of their civilization?" (p. 456) Which roots of civilization are (or were) being excluded from education? How had it been alleged that teaching about those roots would infringe anyone's constitutional rights?

Scientific creationists claim that Earth is only a few thousand years old and that current species have not evolved but have existed unchanged since the beginning. Anderson responds that:

these claims are untrue;

there is a First Amendment right to believe them and to teach them privately;

scientific creationism, astrology, psionics and Marxism should not be given equal time in education.

They should not. However, anyone who has been educated should be able (if they want to, of course), to inquire about scientific creationism etc and to assess them rationally. A guy I knew called Gerry was educated by Christian Brothers in Glasgow. Gerry kept hearing about a controversial figure called "Marx." Not knowing who Marx was or what he represented, Gerry asked a Brother, "Who was this guy, Marx?" The Brother responded with anger, regarding the question not as an inquiry but as a provocation. He responded, "You don't want to know that!" Gerry insisted that he had asked a question because he did want to know the answer to it. He wanted to be educated. The Brother then declared that Marx was a very evil man who wrote a book saying that he wanted everyone to be enslaved.

As Anderson writes:

"By now, reasoned debate is a rarity. There is seldom even any effort to understand an opposing point of view. Instead, a person attributes opinions or attitudes to the other fellow..." (p. 455)