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The following letter to the editor was published in Free Inquiry magazine, Vol. 31, No. 5, Aug./Sept. 2011. However, the published version was significantly edited, especially near the end, which had the unfortunate effect of obscuring my main point about the nature of creationism. I therefore publish the full unedited letter here.
2011-08-26
Dear Editor of Free Inquiry,
In the panel discussion in Free Inquiry vol. 31 no. 4, both Myers and Stenger present cogent arguments for a principled response to creationists. Scott and Mooney, on the other hand, give us nothing but excuses for the accommodating attitude which they support. This is not surprising, as accommodationism is intellectually untenable: indeed, the requirement that biologists and other scientists should avoid offending the exaggerated sensibilities of the religious is like asking astronomers to be very careful not to alienate those who believe in astrology. To say that it is possible to be both a theist and a scientist is simply a disingenuous way of saying that human beings are capable of maintaining cognitive dissonance, i.e. simultaneously holding two or more mutually contradictory sets of beliefs.
Ironically, Mooney comes extremely close to hitting the nail on the head, but then completely ignores the important lesson which he almost learned. He writes, "Creationists resist evolution because they believe that everyone will lose their morals if evolution is generally accepted." Exactly! They reject evolution because they have been indoctrinated into believing that morals and ethics have a divine origin.
There are many varieties of creationism, and they are all intellectually vacuous. Species creationism is only one variety, and as Stenger points out, those who fight it very often completely neglect the major question of cosmic creationism. I insist on the importance of moralistic creationism—the idea that morality is created by "God"—as an essential component of theism and the major motivator of other forms of creationism. So where do morals and ethics come from if not from "God"? Why, from evolution, of course! Just as species evolve biologically, morality emerges throughout the biological and cultural evolution of social animals such as us humans. There are plenty of examples of altruistic behaviour among non-human animals which could be used to illustrate this to those who resist evolution.
It really is very simple: to fight creationism, we must insist on separating religion from morality. But simple does not mean easy. Indeed, the task has been made much more difficult by the longstanding and unprincipled habit of accommodationists who pander to the moral arrogance of believers by reassuring them repeatedly that they can have their faith and eat it too, that science will not turn them into nonbelievers. This approach implicitly validates the bigoted prejudice that there is something morally degenerate about having no religious beliefs. Thus, accommodationists allow theists to continue thinking that atheism would be such a horrible fate that scientific ignorance is preferable.
To fight creationism we must FIGHT CREATIONISM—in particular its moralistic variety.
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