1970-1980: Creation Science
(Evolution Challenged)
Creation science movement spreads nationwide. As laws banning
the teaching of evolution are overturned, anti-evolutionists begin to argue that
creationism is a scientific approach to the study of the living world -- one that
deserves equal footing in schools. In 1972, young-Earth creationist and Genesis
Flood author Henry Morris founds the most influential organization of the
creation science movement, the Institute for Creation Research. Morris's new book
Scientific Creationism, a bedrock text of the movement, is offered in two
editions: one for public schools that makes no explicit references to the Bible,
and another that includes a chapter on "Creation according to Scripture." Creation
scientists argue that science can confirm the account of Creation as given literally
in the Bible. Critics of the movement argue that scientific creationism is biblical
creationism stripped of explicit religious terms rather than a scientific theory.
1974: Lucy
(Rise of Evolution)
Lucy ignites debate over human origins. Donald Johanson announces
the find of a remarkably preserved 4-million-year-old fossil. The 40 percent complete
skeleton offers evidence that an ancient human ancestor had a small, ape-size brain
and walked upright. Johanson lovingly calls his find "Lucy." Anti-evolutionists are
less charmed by the fossil, which turns human evolution into headline news.
1975: Secular Humanism
(Evolution Challenged)
Is secular humanism a religion? The National Science Foundation,
from its Washington, D.C., headquarters, has long advocated the teaching of evolution
as the foundation of biology. Critics charge this is akin to promoting religious
doctrine. A legal suit launched in Colorado charges that the National Science
Foundation is using federal funds to establish secular humanism as the official
religion of the country. Conservative Christians behind the suit try to apply
the same legal arguments used to ban religion in public schools. The suit reaches
the U.S. Supreme Court in 1975 and is rejected.
c. 1975: Sociobiology
(Rise of Evolution)
Sociobiology explores origins of behavior. The question of how
evolution has shaped human behavior dates back to Darwin, who stressed that human
emotions, instincts, and intelligence were all honed by natural processes. But
Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson generates a new flurry of debate over whether
human behavior is biologically determined. He coins the term "sociobiology" to
describe a field that looks at the social behavior of all animals. One of the
world's experts on social insects, he sees the power of evolution to shape complex
behavior. When he turns to human behavior, however, Wilson stirs controversy. In
a provocative book, he even uses an evolutionary framework to explain the rise of
religion in human society.
-> Go to 1980
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