Creationism USA: Bridging the Impasse on Teaching Evolution (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780197516607)

Who are America's creationists? What do they want? Do they truly believe Jesus rode around on dinosaurs, as sometimes depicted? Creationism USA reveals how common misconceptions about creationism have led Americans into a century of unnecessary culture-war histrionics about evolution education and creationism. Adam Laats argues that Americans do not have deep, fundamental disagreements about evolution - not about the actual science behind it and not in ways that truly matter to public policy. Laats asserts that Americans do, however, have significant disagreements about creationism. By describing the history of creationism and its many variations, Laats demonstrates that the real conflict about evolution is not between creationists and evolution. The true landscape of American creationism is far more complicated than headlines suggest.

Creationism USA digs beyond those headlines to prove two fundamental facts about American creationism. First, almost all Americans can be classified as creationists of one type or another. Second, nearly all Americans (including self-identified creationists) want their children to learn mainstream evolutionary science. Taken together, these truths about American creationism point to a large and productive middle ground, a widely shared public vision of the proper relationship between schools, science, and religion. Creationism USA both explains the current state of America's battles over creationism and offers a nuanced yet straight-forward prescription to solve them.

Author: Adam Laats
ISBN-10: 0197516602
ISBN-13: 9780197516607
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Language: English
Published: 10/09/2020
Pages: 232
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.20lbs
Size: 9.40h x 6.30w x 1.00d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 12/01/2021