Why Evolution Is True

Table of Contents

 

 

“A stunning achievement. Coyne has produced a classic—whether you are an expert or novice in science, a friend or foe of evolutionary biology, reading
Why Evolution Is True is
bound to be an enlightening experience.”

 

“Jerry Coyne has long been one of the world’s most skillful defenders of evolutionary science in the face of religious obscurantism. In
Why Evolution
Is
True,
he has produced an indispensable book: the single, accessible volume that makes the case for evolution. But Coyne has delivered much more than the latest volley in our ‘culture war’; he has given us an utterly fascinating, lucid, and beautifully written account of our place in the natural world. If you want to better understand your kinship with the rest of life, this book is the place to start.”

 

“Evolution is the foundation of modern biology, and in
Why Evolution Is True,
Jerry Coyne masterfully explains why. From the vast trove of evidence that evolution scientists have gathered, Coyne has carefully selected some of the most striking examples and explained them with equal parts grace and authority.”

 

“Jerry Coyne’s book does an outstanding job making the basic concepts of evolution understandable for the average reader. He covers topics ranging from the fossil record to biogeography to the genetic mechanisms of evolution with equal clarity, and shows convincingly why creationism and ’intelligent design’ fail miserably as science.”

VIKING
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First published in 2009 by Viking Penguin,
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Copyright © Jerry A. Coyne, 2009

All rights reserved

Illustration credits appear on page 271.
Illustrations by Kalliopi Monoyios. Copyright © Kalliopi Monoyios, 2009.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Coyne, Jerry A., 1949—
Why evolution is true / by Jerry A. Coyne.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.

eISBN : 978-1-440-68585-9

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For Dick Lewontin
il miglior fabbro

D
ecember 20, 2005. Like many scientists on that day, I awoke feeling anxious. John Jones III, a federal judge in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, was due to issue his ruling in the case of
Kitzmiller et al. vs. Dover Area School District et al.
It had been a watershed trial, and Jones’s judgment would decide how American schoolchildren would learn about evolution.

The educational and scientific crisis had begun modestly enough, when administrators of the Dover, Pennsylvania, school district met to discuss which biology textbooks to order for the local high school. Some religious members of the school board, unhappy with the current text’s adherence to Darwinian evolution, suggested alternative books that included the biblical theory of creationism. After heated wrangling, the board passed a resolution requiring biology teachers at Dover High to read the following statement to their ninth-grade classes:

This ignited an educational firestorm. Two of the nine school board members resigned, and all the biology teachers refused to read the statement to their classes, protesting that “intelligent design” was religion rather than science. Since offering religious instruction in public schools violates the United States Constitution, eleven outraged parents took the case to court.

The trial began on September 26, 2005, lasting six weeks. It was a colorful affair, justifiably billed as the “Scopes Trial of our century,” after the famous 1925 trial in which high school teacher John Scopes, from Dayton, Tennessee, was convicted for teaching that humans had evolved. The national press descended on the sleepy town of Dover, much as it had eighty years earlier on the sleepier town of Dayton. Even Charles Darwin’s great-great-grandson, Matthew Chapman, showed up, researching a book about the trial.

By all accounts it was a rout. The prosecution was canny and well prepared, the defense lackluster. The star scientist testifying for the defense admitted that his definition of “science” was so broad that it could include astrology. And in the end,
Of Pandas and People
was shown to be a put-up job, a creationist book in which the word “creation” had simply been replaced by the words “intelligent design.”

But the case was not open and shut. Judge Jones was a George W. Bush appointee, a devoted churchgoer, and a conservative Republican—not exactly pro-Darwinian credentials. Everyone held their breath and waited nervously.

Five days before Christmas, Judge Jones handed down his decision—in favor of evolution. He didn’t mince words, ruling that the school board’s policy was one of “breathtaking inanity,” that the defendants had lied when claiming they had no religious motivations, and, most important, that intelligent design was just recycled creationism:

Jones also brushed aside the defense’s claim that the theory of evolution was fatally flawed:

But scientific truth is decided by scientists, not by judges. What Jones had done was simply prevent an established truth from being muddled by biased and dogmatic opponents. Nevertheless, his ruling was a splendid victory for American schoolchildren, for evolution, and, indeed, for science itself.

All the same, it wasn’t a time to gloat. This was certainly not the last battle we’d have to fight to keep evolution from being censored in the schools. During more than twenty-five years of teaching and defending evolutionary biology, I’ve learned that creationism is like the inflatable roly-poly clown I played with as a child: when you punch it, it briefly goes down, but then pops back up. And while the Dover trial is an American story, creationism isn’t a uniquely American problem. Creationists—who aren’t necessarily Christians—are establishing footholds in other parts of the world, especially the United Kingdom, Australia, and Turkey. The battle for evolution seems never-ending. And the battle is part of a wider war, a war between rationality and superstition. What is at stake is nothing less than science itself and all the benefits it offers to society.