Evolution vs. Creationism: An Introduction

Almost 80 years after the Scopes trial, the debate over the teaching of evolution continues. It is a complex topic with profound scientific, religious, educational, and legal implications. How can a student or parent understand this volatile issue? Evolution vs. Creationism provides the comprehensive and balanced survey that is so badly needed. Written by one of the leading advocates for the teaching of evolution in the United States, this accessible resource provides an introduction to the many facets of the current debate—the scientific evidence for evolution, the legal and educational basis for its teaching, the various religious points of view—as well as a concise history of the evolution-creationism controversy.

Each of the four sections of Evolution vs. Creationism provides a resource that will assist the reader in better understanding these issues. The first section addresses the nature of how evolution works as part of the scientific enterprise, as well as a summary of the relationship between religious beliefs and science. A section on the history of the evolution versus creationism controversy provides a handy synopsis of the lengthy struggles, from before Darwin to the present day, between advocates of creationism and the proponents of evolution. A collection of primary source documents, addressing cosmology, law, education, and religious issues from all sides of the debate, make up the third section. The volume concludes with a selection of resources for further information for those readers who wish to study the topic in more depth.

EUGENIE C. SCOTT is Executive Director of the National Center for Science Education, the leading advocacy group for the teaching of evolution in the United States. She has written extensively on the evolution-creationism controversy in scholarly and popular venues, and she has won numerous awards for her work from scholarly organizations, including the Public Service Award from the National Science Board. She is a recent past-president of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists.