Product Description

You think you know about Darwinism and intelligent design, but did you know: *There is no overwhelming evidence for Darwinism; *Intelligent design is based on scientific evidence, not religious belief; *What many public schools teach about Darwinism is based on known falsehoods; *Scientists at major universities believe in intelligent design; *Scientists who question Darwinism are punished--by public institutions using your tax dollars. Battle-hardened veteran with doctorates in biology and theology sets the record straight in The Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwinism and Intelligent Design.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #46333 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781596980136
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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From the Back Cover
Why Darwinism—like Marxism and Freudianism before it—is headed for extinction

In the 1925 Scopes trial, the American Civil Liberties Union sued to allow the teaching of Darwin’s theory of evolution in public schools. Seventy-five years later, in Kitzmiller v. Dover, the ACLU sued to prevent the teaching of an alternative to Darwin’s theory known as "Intelligent Design"—and won. Why did the ACLU turn from defending the free-speech rights of Darwinists to silencing their opponents? Jonathan Wells reveals that, for today’s Darwinists, there may be no other choice: unable to fend off growing challenges from scientists, or to compete with rival theories better adapted to the latest evidence, Darwinism—like Marxism and Freudianism before it—is simply unfit to survive.

Wells begins by explaining the basic tenets of Darwinism, and the evidence both for and against it. He reveals, for instance, that the fossil record, which according to Darwin should be teeming with "transitional" fossils showing the development of one species to the next, so far hasn’t produced a single incontestable example. On the other hand, certain well-documented aspects of the fossil record—such as the Cambrian explosion, in which innumerable new species suddenly appeared fully formed—directly contradict Darwin’s theory. Wells also shows how most of the other "evidence" for evolution— including textbook "icons" such as peppered moths, Darwin’s finches, Haeckel’s embryos, and the Tree of Life—has been exaggerated, distorted . . . and even faked.

Wells then turns to the theory of intelligent design (ID), the idea that some features of the natural world, such as the internal machinery of cells, are too "irreducibly complex" to have resulted from unguided natural processes alone. In clear-cut layman’s language, he reveals the growing evidence for ID coming out of scientific specialties from microbiology to astrophysics. As Wells explains, religion does play a role in the debate over Darwin—though not in the way evolutionists claim. Wells shows how Darwin reasoned that evolution is true because divine creation "must" be false—a theological assumption oddly out of place in a scientific debate. In other words, Darwinists’ materialistic, atheistic assumptions rule out any theories but their own, and account for their willingness to explain away the evidence—or lack of it.

Darwin is an emperor who has no clothes— but it takes a brave man to say so. Jonathan Wells, a microbiologist with two Ph.D.s (from Berkeley and Yale), is that brave man. Most textbooks on evolution are written by Darwinists with an ideological ax to grind. Brave dissidents—qualified scientists—who try to teach or write about intelligent design are silenced and sent to the academic gulag. But fear not: Jonathan Wells is a liberator. He unmasks the truth about Darwinism— why it is wrong and what the real evidence is. He also supplies a revealing list of "Books You’re Not Supposed to Read" (as far as the Darwinists are concerned) and puts at your fingertips all the evidence you need to challenge the most closed-minded Darwinist.

About the Author
Jonathan Wells is a Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute in Seattle, Washington. He holds a Ph.D. in biology from the University of California at Berkeley and a Ph.D. in theology from Yale University. He is the author of Icons of Evolution: Why Much of What We Teach about Evolution Is Wrong (Regnery) and is currently doing intelligent design–related scientific research.

Customer Reviews

Not a quick read, but worth it
I can't even attempt to be as wordy as the professional reviewers who have already reviewed this, so just let me make a few simple comments.

One is that critiques of ID accuse anyone who considered ID to be plausible MUST be doing so because they believe in God. Therefore, goes the simple argument, they are anti-science "Creationists." It is clear from this book that ID is far from being anti-science, and its proponents are clearly not bibilical literalist creationists.

The book posits that many of those who most vehemently oppose ID are themselves doing so because they do not believe in God. Atheism v. Theism. As the author of the book points out, a scientific evaluation must rise above basic metaphysical presupositions and not deny the evidence or lack of evidence because it conflicts with one's metaphysical starting point.

The author argues (I think persuasively) that many core presupositions in Darwinsim are not supported scientifically. He also argues that empirical observation suggests "Intelligent Design."

In no way does this book attempt to prove that God exists. But it also points out that Darwinist ideas do not prove the non-existence of God.

Darwin was not an atheist. He said that he was agnostic and that he did not believe in the Bible as a divine revelation.

This book is good for agnostics, but atheists will hate it.

Propaganda rant from creationists
Hmmmmm, saying you are politically incorrect became an argument when? Was it 10 years ago? 20 years ago? It seems that if you are on the fringe right all you have to say is that you are politically incorrect. If this series of books was around 100 years ago then I am sure there would have been a book entitled, "the politically incorrect guide to opposing the right of women to vote" or "the politically incorrect to child labor", which would have of course advocated child labor. The rightwing by the way (they deny it now) opposed the right of women to vote and the end of child labor, a century ago. Calling yourself politically incorrect is often today a sign of a lazy mind. For example, I have yet to see a creationist (that is what these IDers are by the way) give a defense of their designer and its' origins. See, they don't want to call it a deity when they defend "Intelligent Design" because that gives the game plan away. No, they want those who arent' creationists to think they are giving a real scientific explanation for the origins of species instead of pushing far rightwing religious beliefs. If you believe that ID might be a real scientific explanation and that those who push it aren't pushing their religious beliefs, then people are trying to lie and deceive you. If they were honest and just admitted, "yeah, we believe the universe is 6000 years old and that there was a big wooden ship with dinosaurs on it ", then at least they would be honest. Jonathan Wells, the book author, joined the Unification church of "Rev." Moon. Moon is a creationist (just like Wells who wouldn't admit it in a "ID" book) who has ripped off people who sent him money. Moon lives a lavish lifestyle based on fleecing people who send him money for religious reasons. I will give Wells credit for at least not doing that. Look, most Christians in America believe in evolution, if not purely natural at least guided. One can be a Christian and believe in evolution but for please don't take this as nothing else then a creationist rant devoid of real science, especially when it comes to the supposed designer. Talk origins is a great site if you want to learn more about evolution. I give it two stars because it like much of what is produced on the far right, is not bad propaganda.

A terrible read. Made of wrongness.
The synopsis alone of this book should raise a battalion of red flags for anyone who cares about real truth and actual logic.

"There is no overwhelming evidence for Darwinism."

For starters, don't call it "Darwinism." It's called the theory of evolution, and just because Charles Darwin first proposed it, there's been more than a century of additional research done to confirm it since. People have used the theory to make countless predictions, those predictions have repeatedly turned out to be true, and the theory has become stronger and stronger. As Michael Shermer points out in WHY PEOPLE BELIEVE WEIRD THINGS, evolution isn't a theory that can be disproved by one or two or even a dozen criticisms; it is a vast matrix of supporting information: of studies such as the one recently done over twenty years involving 40,000 generations of e.coli in which the evolution of e.coli was observed and documented--major evolution in which the e.coli developed the ability to absorb and digest a substance (citrate) that had previously been as inedible to them as cellulose is to humans; of a fossil record too enormous, too deep, and too epic to dismiss as a trick played by God or as the aftereffects of some past catastrophe; of observed evolution in everything from butterflies to lizards; of genetic tests, DNA, chromosomes, and so forth. Chipping away at any tiny aspects of the truth of evolution does not in any way refute the logic of the overall theory, because the theory has proven itself over and over again.

"Intelligent design is based on scientific evidence, not religious belief."

Oh, is it? That's interesting to hear, because one of the most popular Intelligent Design books (OF PANDAS AND PEOPLE) has been proven to have taken large sections of its text from an earlier creationism book. It appears to have been done with a "Find and Replace" function, as at least one very embarrassing and telling typo resulted from it. (Visit [...] for a short video on that subject.) Add to that that literally everyone at the Discovery Institute (a.k.a. the biggest proponents of the ID idea) are born-again Christians, and it becomes very apparent that the notion of Intelligent Design is a duplicitous ruse meant to sneak religion into science classes. In the recent case of Kitzmiller vs. Dover, in Kansas, the admittedly religious judge ultimately derided ID as nonscientific, as obviously religious in nature, and as having no place at all in a science classroom.

"What many public schools teach about Darwinism is based on known falsehoods."

I love how he gives examples. No, wait, he doesn't. Sure, there are misconceptions about evolution--such as that evolution says we evolved from monkeys--which it doesn't, it says humans and monkeys evolved from a remote common ancestor--but that some teachers might not properly educate themselves about the theory before "educating" their students doesn't negate the truth of the theory itself.

"Scientists at major universities believe in intelligent design."

This is an appeal to authority, an example of a logical fallacy. Just because some scientists believe something doesn't have any bearing on whether or not that something is true. It also leaves out the fact that MOST scientists at MOST major universities believe that intelligent design is complete and total nonsense--because that's what the evidence suggests.

"Scientists who question Darwinism are punished --by public institutions using your tax dollars."

Aside from being questionably punctuated, there's a lot to be said about this statement. One: scientists are probably not being punished as much as they say they are. For instance, the man who allegedly lost his job at the Smithsonian for promoting ID--a guy celebrated by the recent Ben Stein movie "Expelled"--still works there. Two: nothing rallies a base of people behind a cause like a persecution complex. It's worked for the Mormons and for religions throughout history. Three: there are undoubtedly some vocal proponents of ID whose contracts have not been renewed at various universities, or maybe who have even been fired. The fact is, no one likes to be around zealots, and no one wants science teachers who are blinded by preconceived notions, religious or otherwise.

"Battle-hardened veteran with doctorates in biology and theology sets the record straight in The Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwin and Intelligent Design."

And finally: Intelligent Design is allegedly not at all religious, and yet somehow a co-author's doctorate in theology is a selling point for the book.

Be skeptical, people. Whatever you read, do it with your mind turned on. And if you do read this book, read something from the opposing camp as well; I recommend anything by Michael Shermer or Mathew Chapman.

If what you believe is true, you have nothing to fear from learning all the facts, because facts support the truth.