Claim CA114:
There have been many famous scientists who believed in special creation in
the past. In particular, the following scientists were creationists:
- Louis Agassiz (1807-1873; glacial geology)
- Charles Babbage (1792-1871; computer science)
- Francis Bacon (1561-1626; scientific method)
- Robert Boyle (1627-1691; gas dynamics)
- David Brewster (1781-1868; optical mineralogy)
- Georges Cuvier (1769-1832; comparative anatomy)
- Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; hydraulics)
- Humphrey Davy (1778-1829; thermokinetics)
- Henri Fabre (1823-1915; entomology of living
insects)
- Michael Faraday (1791-1867; electromagnetics)
- John Ambrose Fleming (1849-1945; electronics)
- Joseph Henry (1797-1878; inventor)
- William Herschel (1738-1822; galactic astronomy)
- James Joule (1818-1889; reversible thermodynamics)
- Lord Kelvin (1824-1907; energetics)
- Johann Kepler (1571-1630; celestial mechanics)
- Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778; systematic
biology)
- Joseph Lister (1827-1912; antiseptic surgery)
- Matthew Maury (1806-1873; oceanography)
- James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879; electrodynamics)
- Gregor Mendel (1822-1884; genetics)
- Samuel F. B. Morse (1791-1872; telegraph inventor)
- Isaac Newton (1642-1727; calculus)
- Blaise Pascal (1623-1662; hydrostatics)
- Louis Pasteur (1822-1895; bacteriology)
- William Ramsay (1852-1916; isotopic chemistry)
- John Ray (1627-1705; natural history)
- Lord Rayleigh (1842-1919; dimensional analysis)
- Bernhard Riemann (1826- 1866; non-Euclidean geometry)
- James Simpson (1811-1870; gynecology)
- Nicholas Steno (1631-1686; stratigraphy)
- George Stokes (1819-1903; fluid mechanics)
- Rudolph Virchow (1821-1902; pathology)
- John Woodward (1665-1728; paleontology)
Agassiz, Pasteur, Lord Kelvin, Maxwell, Dawson, Virchow, Fabre, and
Fleming were strong opponents of evolution.
Source:
Response:
- The validity of evolution rests on what the evidence says, not on what
people say. There is overwhelming evidence in support of evolution
and no valid arguments against it.
- Many of the scientists in the above list lived before the theory of
evolution was even proposed. Others knew the theory, but were not
familiar with all the evidence for it. Evolution is outside the field
of most of those scientists.
A couple hundred years ago, before the theory of evolution was
developed and evidence for it was presented, virtually all scientists
were creationists, including scientists in relevant fields such as
biology and geology. Today, virtually all relevant scientists accept
evolution. Such a turnabout could only be caused by overwhelming
evidence. The alternative -- that almost all scientists today are
thoroughly incompetent -- is preposterous.
- Even if they did not believe in evolution, all these scientists were
firmly committed to the scientific method, including methodological
naturalism. They actually serve as counterexamples to the common
creationist claim that a naturalistic practice of science is atheistic.
- Evolution is entirely consistent with a belief in
God,
including even "special creation." Special creation need not refer to
the creation of every animal; it can refer simply to creation of the
universe, of the first life, or of the human soul, for example. Many
of the above scientists were not creationists in the sense that Henry
Morris uses the term.
created 2000-11-4, modified 2005-11-25
