Contemporary Religious Discrimination Against Creationists in Academia

The writer interviewed over 100 persons who were active in creation work. Most felt that the standard evolutionary paradigm of origins was inadequate and should be balanced with alternative positions. The creationists interviewed differed considerably on their views of origins. Many would be identified with the literal twenty-four hour day, nongap creationist position and a universal Noahian deluge. Most felt that in their academic careers they had faced religious discrimination ranging from derogatory comments to denial of tenure or an earned degree. The writer also reviewed the literature and interviewed about a dozen academic deans and department chairs in the field of science. All felt that openly holding a scientific creationistic world view would seriously impede an academic career. Many openly stated that they would not hire or support the candidacy of an out-of-the-closet scientific creationist for a tenured position in academia

The Problem of Time

The short age view, specifically the conflict between the evidence for a short age position and the eons of time concluded necessary for evolution to have occurred, is a major area of criticism against creationism by the anti-creation movement. All time estimates essentially examine current rates of physical change and assume that the rate found is fairly consistent, then extrapolate backwards. This 1s a difficult task that is not privy to replication. Time Is clearly a human limitation and the Scriptures teach that it does not circumvent or impede God s will. As soon as a thought 1s conceived by Him, It is spoken of as not only put into action, but completed because, for all practical purposes, the conception of a thought by God Is fully equivalent to the completion of the action. The problems of trying to harmonize the changing view of the universe, as conceived by scientists and the unchanging Scriptures, are elucidated relative to time. The time factor is crucial in that, given the essential possibility of a feat, a major difference between what mankind and God can achieve is the limitation of time. Given enough time, a mountain of any size could be moved by humans

The Unbridgeable Chasm Between Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes

Evidence for the evolution of eukaryotes from prokaryotes is critically examined. It is concluded that an enormous gap exists between the two basic cell types that has not, and cannot, be bridged by transitional forms. Organelles of a large number of putative ancient cells have been uncovered, mostly preserved in amber. It was found that these cells were all unambiguously either prokaryotic or eukaryotic, and none was in between. This complete absence of the required series of transitional forms indicates that only two basic life forms have ever existed. The most popular effort to bridge this gap is the theory of endosymbiosis popularized by Lynn Margulis. This theory postulates that some of the eukaryote organelles evolved from other organisms which took residence in primitive prokaryotic cells. Many major problems with this hypothesis were reviewed, leading to the conclusion that it is widely accepted by default because it is the most plausible hypothesis and not because of empirical evidence. This critically important gap has rarely been discussed by evolutionists partially because it is difficult even to hypothesize plausible putative transitional links. This gap is a serious, if not a fatal, problem for macroevolution. Conversely, the creation world view fully explains what is found in the natural world

The Biological Theory of Atavism and its Influence on Social Policy

Atavism is the theory that some individual animals for some reason revert back to an earlier evolutionary type. In the case of humans, many behavioral scientists once believed that atavisms caused certain persons to revert in a major way, both physically and mentally, to their animal origins. Many criminologists adopted this theory to explain crime, and partly for this reason it influenced public opinion and official policy. The criminal physical type stereotype is still very much with us, even though the theory of atavism as a causative factor in criminal behavior has been empirically disproved. The concept of atavisms has today gone the way of vestigial and nascent organs. Most disciplines try to accommodate without adequate examination that which they believe is the accepted conclusion of other fields. As Gould (1977 : 223) noted, especially great was the influence of evolution in fields far removed from its biological core. One example is an uncritical acceptance of the theory of evolution into social pol icy. The result was the development of many unfounded theories which have been completely discredited today, some of which have had tragic consequences for multi-thousands of persons (Gould, 1981) . The aspect of evolution discussed here is human organism atavism, or the view that certain physical traits appear in humans which are a throw-back to an earlier stage of our evolutionary history

An Update on the Courts, Academic Freedom and Creationists: The Peloza, Johnson, and Bishop Cases

A review of the Peloza, Johnson, Bishop, and other cases involving creationists educators terminated or censored due to their objections to naturalistic evolution illustrates the current trend for the courts to rule against educators who are labeled not only creationists, but also Christians. These examples illustrate that the law and past Supreme Court rulings are commonly misapplied, abused, or judges openly prevaricate about the conclusions of current and previous cases. The focus on this review is on tying these cases together and outlining current trends

Magnetic Monopoles and Grand Unification Theory

The theory of magnetic monopoles and its importance for Big Bang Cosmology and Grand Unification Theory are reviewed. Although indications existed that Bias Cabrera detected evidence of magnetic monopoles at Stanford in 1982, all efforts to replicate his research have so far failed. Currently no valid explanation exists as to why this important plank in Big Bang Cosmology has not been experimentally verified in spite of over a decade of sophisticated experiments. This area is a major missing link which argues against the evolution of matter and the four forces, and also the current big bang world view. The history of the efforts to detect magnetic monopoles are reviewed, and the reasons behind their need for big bang cosmology was discussed

Progressive Evolution or Degeneration?

The published literature on the evidence for a mutational meltdown of life was reviewed. Although only a small percent of all mutations are detrimental enough to cause disease, the total number occurring in each generation is significant. It was once concluded that the vast majority of all mutations were neutral, but evidence now exists that indicates no or few mutations are truly neutral (though most mutations are near neutral). Clearly negative or harmful mutations are often effectively eliminated from the gene pool, and it is the “near-neutral” mutations that are causing mutational meltdown. Depending on the specific set of mutations, near-neutral mutations can accumulate only to a certain level before they are collectively lethal. It is concluded that the accumulation of mutations is a major problem for Darwinism because the large number of near-neutral mutations thatare not readily selected out of the gene pool accumulate in each generation, eventually causing extinction. Mutations, rather then being the engine that drives evolution upward, are, instead, causing degeneration of the genome. Evolution is occurring, but going the wrong way, as predicted by the creation model. The reasons why mutations are accumulating in the genome are discussed in somedetail

The Fall of the Natural Selection Theory

The major contribution of Darwin to evolutionary theory was his theory of natural selection. Of the major aspects of evolution, the theory of natural selection has produced the least opposition by those critical of evolution. This is partially because limited selection is observed in selective breeding, and it is easy to extrapolate this process to the natural world . This paper summarized some of the reasons for the modern trend to abandon the theory of natural selection as a force in evolution

Do Creation and Flood Myths Found World Wide Have a Common Origin?

An extensive review of both creation and flood myths reveals that there is a basic core of themes in all of the extant creation and flood myths. This fact gives strong evidence of a common origin of the myths based on actual historical events. The Genesis account, however, stands in stark contrast to all the other renditions. This is in part true because we have more knowledge and understanding about this account, but also because it shows a lack of the corruption found in other creation and flood stories. The other stories are now rightly referred to as myths, because they have added mythological elements to the original history. The original historical events can be seen through the modifications and embellishments, however, which were added from generation to generation