Creationism's Upside-Down Pyramid

When you buy this book, you need to understand that it's a criticism of creationism, not an explanation of evolution. If you want a book on evolution, there are much better choices.I would also like to mention that the last person to write a review of the book gave it a very unfair one star. He complained that this book did not cover Behe's theories of irreducible complexity, despite the fact that this book came out four years before Behe's. One can hardly fault the author for not defending his work against hypotheses that didn't exist yet.

If only creationists would take the time to read something other than books by creationists, about creationists, and for creationists, they may learn something about the real world. This book is a complete and systamatic dismantaling of the many silly creationists arguments against science. A recommended read for anyone with an open mind, or just a mind--but not creationists.

The story of creation is a beautiful myth. Many cultures andreligions have a myth about how the world began and they are as variedas each religion is in comparison to each other. But the key word here is myth. Myths are told as a spiritual explanation of it all. They are not meant as literal fact nor were they ever meant that way. Lee Tiffin, as a minister as well as a scientist, understands this; and in a superb balance of his two seemingly disparate vocations, he has created a masterful essay on why we should not pollute religion with politics and vice versa. To do so is to degrade both. School is not only rote memorization, it is where a child is supposed to be taught to think logically, not to pervert the mythology of ANY religion as a science. The more technical language will intimidate the lay reader--one can skim through this and not lose the message. It is also important to know that Mr Tiffin is not attacking religion, but attacking the idea of religion being mandated upon us. If you are concerned in any way about this issue, please read this book and recommend it to your local school board.

I'm not sure that this book's subtitle is an accurate portrayal of its intent. Fundamentalist ideas are objects of faith (or they should be) so refuting them seems extraordinary if not impossible. But I think the subtitle is a poke at the fundamentalist who wishes to refute science by acts of faith, an irony if ever there was one. Tiffin does an excellent job of explaining why the "scientific method" practiced by creationists is upside-down. Rather than deductions and inductions radiating out from evidence, as it should, the creationist makes evidence radiate out from its presupposition that the creation story in Genesis is factual. Indeed, one can readily see this difference in how Darwin induced a theory based on the physical evidence that he observed. Contrast this with the modern creationists who use physical evidence to try to prove a pre-established notion of what the evidence should tell them. Creationists do a great disservice to both religion and science by trying to hoist on the public the notion that creationism is legitimate science. It is not. It turns the scientific method on its head and has none of the attributes that one would expect from a scientific theory (e.g. predictive qualities, practical uses, and conceptual falsification). While somewhat technical in nature, I believe this book is useful in helping the public understand why valid science opposes creationism. However, I don't expect the book to be especially useful to creationists since I have encountered few of them who understand and appreciate the right side up scientific method.

Its been some time since I read this book. I should re-read it again and make a better review in the near future. But for now, my memory of this book is that after going about one-third into the book I lost the reason to finish it. Why? Because by that time Creation Science had been so thoroughly debunked that I had little need to keep on reading. Why flog a dead horse?Science starts with observations, you make guess at conclusions, make more observations and tests, and work until you have a final conclusion. Creation Science starts with the conclusion, and attempts to force-fit the observations to their agenda. THAT IS NOT SCIENCE PEOPLE. Real science will also abandon prior held beliefs if new evidence demands it, Creation Science (religion) will not. This happened with the helio-centric model of the solar system, relativity, quantum mechanics, etc.