I enjoyed Intelligently Designed: How Creationists Built the Campaign against Evolution by Edward Caudill but did not finish it.
I liked this book and believe that evolution is by far the superior theory but that creationists are often winning the argument in the United States. At least winning much more often than the evidence would support. I am a scientist so I find it shocking that such large portions of the American population favor creationism and many of those adhere to a belief in an earth that is only thousands of years old.
I used the term creationism which is apparently now out of favor. Creationism does imply a Creator and so seems to be a religious belief and not suitable for public schools. So the theory morphed into intelligent design (without mentioning who is the designer).
But the book is not about the evidence for and against creationism or evolution. It is about exactly what the subtitle says, “How Creationists Built the Campaign against Evolution”. I found the historical cases discussed in the first half of the book very interesting but about half way through really got bogged down in detail about the creationist campaigns.
I thought the book was too long and detailed for the most readers. I suspect this is warranted for a small group but there is probably too much detail for most of us. Academics deeply interested in the creationist public relations campaigns, would find this degree of detail appropriate. Perhaps some educators or those with a keen interest in science education would benefit. Maybe a strong creationist planning a vacation to hit the creationist museums and so forth would like this book or parts of it.
So my bottom line is that this is a good book but too long and detailed for me and most readers, in my opinion any way.
Jack…appreciate your opinion…I’m a creationist believer and No I do not believe the earth is only thousands of years old. The bible does not say how old the earth is but scientists have dated it to be far older than just thousands of years. I believe that. Facts don’t lie. So, the earth could be millions of years old…but mankind may have inhabited it for only a far shorter period of time.
Bill
Bill
Hi Bill,
I mention my belief in evolution because that is certainly a minority vies in the US and would certainly impact my review. I know there are a substantial number of creationists who believe in an old earth but I also think there are quite a few who believe in a relatively young earth. I probably could have made that clearer. There is certainly a diversity of beliefs in both the evolution and creationist communities.
As with political beliefs, we often put them in nice neat categories but quite often there is overlap and the lines can seem a bit blurry.
Jack
I do, however, feel that creationism and religion in general deserve just as much thought and questioning as evolutionary theory. Creation, especially a 6 day creation occurring 6,000 years ago, is simply not able to be supported by any science whatsoever, and intelligent design is not a scientific theory at all, it is religious conviction that suggests if we don’t currently understand something, then it must be because God did it! Under that same reasoning, we would never have scientific progress or discoveries.