Mayr, Ernst, xvi–xvii, 6, 10–11, 29, 150
Mencken, H. L., 25, 26
methodological naturalism, or, no miracles allowed, 52–53
methodological supernaturalism, 53
Meyer, Stephen, 60, 106–7, 113, 143
Microevolution and Macroevolution argument, 75, 77–80
militarism, social Darwinism and, 26, 27
Mill, John Stuart, 46
Miller, Kenneth, 102
Miller-Urey experiment, 83, 86
miracles, 52–53
Hume’s Maxim, 48–49, 61
mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), 14, 73, 149
“mitochondrial Eve,” 149
Monaghan, Tom, 100
monogamy:
monogamous species, 80
serial, 134
moon, dating of the, 16
Moon, Reverend Sun Myung, 110
Moore’s Law of computer power, 41
moral degeneration, equating evolution with, 31
moral values, evolution and, 130–36
Morris, Henry, 81, 102, 110
Mount Wilson Observatory, 159–60
mouse genome, 79
multiverse (multiple universe), 58–59
Murchison meteorite, 141
NASA, 11–12
National Center for Science Education, 102
National Museum of Natural History, 14
National Religious Broadcasters, 108
natural selection, xvi, 7–9, 78, 136, 138
as bottom-up designer, 6, 65
direct evidence for, 150–51
diseases as examples of, 75
microevolution and, 80
randomness argument, 82–83
rules of, 7
sexual selection and, 151–52
species distribution and, 47
Natural Theology: or, Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity, Collected from the Appearances of Nature (Paley), 4, 6
Nature, 85
Nebraska Man, 83
necessity and chance, 89–90
Nelson, Paul, 106–7
neo-Darwinism, 146
Newton, Sir Isaac, 52, 158–59
New York Times, The, xix, 112, 113
nihilism, 31
nipples, male, 18
“No Free Lunch theorems,” 72
nonfunctional pseudogenes, 74
“nonoverlapping magisteria” (NOMA), 120
null hypothesis, 121–22
observational verifications, prediction and, 2–4
Observation of Evolution argument, 75–77
Of Pandas and People (Kenyon and Davis), 100, 101, 102–4
previous versions of, 102–3
transitional fossils and, 9–10
Old Earth creationists, 166
On Liberty (Mill), 46
On the Origin of Species (Darwin), xv, 29
initial response to, xvi–xvii, 3
quotes from, 1, 66, 126
original sin, 131
origins of life, unsolved questions on, 141–42
Overton, Judge William R., 95–96
Pachyrhachis problematicus (cretaceous snake), 17–18
Padian, Kevin, 102
Paley, William, 4, 6
pantheism, 123
Parker, Gary, 102
patterns, the brain’s seeking of, 38–39, 160
Pax-6 genes, 78, 79
Pearcey, Nancy, 31
Pennock, Robert, 67, 102
peppered moths, 84, 85
Pew Research Center, xvii–xviii, 128
phenotypes, 15
Piltdown Man, 83, 85
polar bears, 9
politics, 132
polygamous species, 80
Popper, Karl, 121
Poupard, Cardinal Paul, 113
prayer, intercessory, 122
prediction, observational verification and, 2–4
Principia Mathematia (Newton), 52
Principles of Geology (Lyell), 2
problem of incipient stages, 68–69
Progressive creationists, 167
prokaryote cells, 73, 143
gene transfer between, 145
Prothero, Donald, 51
Psalms 19:11, 4
punctuated equilibrium, 11
Ray, John, 4
reciprocal altruism, 130, 132, 133
Rees, Sir Martin, 55
Rehnquist, Judge William, 98
religion, 94
compatibility of theory of evolution and, 113, 114, 122–25, 138
development of, 132–33
evolution-creation debate, real agenda of, 87–88, 104, 106–15
and science, relationship of, see science and religion, relationship between
spirituality, 157–59
Republicans, acceptance of evolution by, 128–29
ribs, thirteenth set of, 18
RNA, 142
rocks, dating of, 16
Roughgarden, Joan, 151–52
Royal Institute of Technology, 14
Rumsfeld, Donald, 139, 140–41
Sagan, Carl, 57, 154, 157–58
same-sex sexuality, 151
same-world model of relationship between religion and science, 120
Savolainen, Peter, 14
Scalia, Judge Antonin, 98
Schönborn, Cardinal Christof, 113
school curricula, 26, 91–93
court cases, see court cases
Schopf, William, 12, 142
science, 89–105
defined, 94
Edwards v. Aguillard and criteria of, 96–99
the real agenda of Intelligent Design, 87–88, 104, 106–15
refutability of a claim, 121
relevance of, 154–61
religion and, see science and religion, relationship between
spirituality and, 158–59, 161
in textbooks and curricula, process for inclusion in, 91–93
Science, 14, 75
science and religion, relationship between, 28–29, 30, 31–32, 94, 116–25
compatibility of, 113, 114–15, 122–25, 138
conflicting-worlds model, 119–20
God as a null hypothesis, 121–22
same-world model, 120
separate-worlds model, 120–21, 122–25, 127
scientific community, agreement on evolution of, xvii, 21–22, 126–27
scientific method, 94, 96–98, 111
self-correcting feature of, 85
Scopes, John Thomas, 25
Scopes trial, 23–24
instigation of, 25
real legacy of, 25–29
social Darwinism and, 26–28
Scott, Eugenie, 166
Second Law of Thermodynamics argument, 81–82
Secular Humanism, 93
Sedgwick, Adam, xvii
self-organization, 64–65, 160
separate-worlds model of relationship between religion and science, 120–21, 122–25, 127
serial monogamy, 134
sex-role reversal, 151
sexual fidelity, 133–35
sexual selection, 79–80, 151–52
Shannon, Claude, 72
Shermer, Michael:
creationist beliefs, earlier, xx–xxi
Galápagos Islands, retracing Darwin’s steps at, xiii–xiv, 140
Shermer’s Last Law, 40, 64
Singularity, 41
skeptical principles for investigating Intelligent Design, 48–53, 61
Smith, Adam, 136, 137
Smithsonian Institution, 113
snakes, vestigial organs and, 17–18
social Darwinism, 26–28
solar system, dating of the, 16
species:
definition of, 6, 79
distribution of, explanation of, 47
immutability of, xvi
precipitation of speciation, 79–80
Spencer, Herbert, 49
spirituality, 157–59
state boards of educati
on, exclusion of evolution from curricula by, 26
Stenger, Victor, 57
Stewardship Foundation, 112, 114
string theory, 57
Student’s Darwin, The (Aveling), 118–19
Sulloway, Frank, 34, 36, 38, 139–40
study of Darwin and his arrival at theory of evolution, xiii, xiv–xv
sun, dating of the, 16
supernatural explanations, 98, 162
Supreme Court, 95
Edwards v. Aguillard, 96–99, 102, 108
Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman (Feynman), 155
syllogistic reasoning, 24
symbiogenesis, 92–93, 145–46
teaching of evolution:
“equal time” argument, 166
exclusion from the curricula, 26
fears of public school teachers, 33
see also textbooks, biology
teaching of Intelligent Design:
Bush statements on, xviii–xix
court cases, see court cases
God of the Government argument, 90–91
survey on, xviii
Templeton Foundation, 114
tests of evolutionary theory:
comparative method, 15
convergence of evidence, 12–15, 51, 87
dating techniques, 15–16
hypothetico-deductive method, 21–22
intermediate fossil stages, 16
vestigial structures, 17–19
textbooks, biology, 26, 91–93, 127–28
Theistic Evolutionists, 167
theories, scientific, xix–xx, 1–2, 97
evolution, see evolution (theory of evolution)
relative roles of data and, 2, 3
thioredoxin, 76
Thomas More Law Center (TMLC), 100, 102
Thompson, Richard, 100
Time, 126
Tipler, Frank, 55
Touchstone, 108
transitional species, 9
fossils of, 9–11, 14, 15, 51, 69, 146–47
Transmutation of Species (Darwin), xvi
Truth Cannot Contradict Truth (John Paul II), 116, 124, 128
truth telling, 133–34, 135–36
Twain, Mark, 34
Unification Church, 110
Universal Probability Bound (UPB), 71–72
universe, dating of the, 16
University of California, Irvine, 45–46
uterus, male, 18
Velikovsky, Immanuel, 88
vestigial structures, 17–19
Virgin Mary apparitions, 61
Voltaire, 61–62
Vyse, Stuart, 38–39
Wallace, Alfred Russel, xvi, 7
“Was the World Made for Man?”, 34
“watchmaker” argument, 4–5
Wealth of Nations, The (Smith), 137
Webb, John, 56–57
“Wedge, The,” 106, 109
Wedge of Truth, The (Johnson), 109
Wells, Jonathan, 83, 110
whales, vestigial organs of, 18
What Is Creation Science? (Morris and Parker), 102
Whewell, William, 12
White, Timothy, 147–48
Wilberforce, Archbishop Samuel (“Soapy Sam”), 99
Wisdom of God Manifested in Works of the Creation (Ray), 4
wisdom teeth, 18
wolves, evolution of dogs and, 14
Wonderful Life (Gould), 144
World Summit on Evolution, 2005, 140–53
World War I, social Darwinism and, 26, 27
Young Earth creationism, 102, 120, 148, 166
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MICHAEL SHERMER, PH.D., is the founding publisher of Skeptic magazine (www.skeptic.com), the executive director of the Skeptics Society, a monthly columnist for Scientific American, the host of the Skeptics Distinguished Science Lecture Series at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and the co-host and producer of the thirteen-hour Family Channel television series Exploring the Unknown. About Dr. Shermer, the late Stephen Jay Gould wrote: “As head of one of America’s leading skeptic organizations, and as a powerful activist and essayist in the service of this operational form of reason, [he] is an important figure in American public life.”
Shermer is the author of numerous books. He has written a trilogy on belief: the bestselling Why People Believe Weird Things, on pseudoscience, superstitions, and other confusions of our time; How We Believe: Science, Skepticism, and the Search for God, on the origins of religion and belief in God; and The Science of Good and Evil: Why People Cheat, Gossip, Share, Care, and Follow the Golden Rule, on the evolutionary origins of morality. He has also published two collections of essays, Science Friction: Where the Known Meets the Unknown, about how the mind works and how thinking goes wrong, and The Borderlands of Science, which maps the fuzzy land between science and pseudoscience. He is also the author of a biography, In Darwin’s Shadow, about the life and science of the co-discoverer of natural selection, Alfred Russel Wallace, and Denying History, on Holocaust denial and other forms of pseudohistory.
Shermer earned his B.A. in psychology from Pepperdine University, his M.A. in experimental psychology from California State University at Fullerton, and his Ph.D. in the history of science from Claremont Graduate University. He was a college professor for twenty years, teaching psychology, evolution, and the history of science at Occidental College; California State University, Los Angeles; and Glendale College. He lives in Southern California.
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