Evolution, Creationism, and Other Modern Myths: A Critical Inquiry

Mr. Deloria's scholarship is sound. I've looked at many of his references and it appears that he's been thorough and fair--his critics and reviewers here have not been! Sadly many of the other critics are apparently either died-in-the-wool evolutionists or else religious folks. Deloria is truly neither, and that is his charm and the source of his brilliance. He is a native American spiritist which is less than ideal. Optimally I'd prefer an agnostic Supreme Court Cheif Justice or a world renowned mathemetician or even the world chess champion. In short, Deloria clearly demonstrates that creationism, evolutionism and every other theory or myth of our origins is not and cannot truly be rigorous science. He argues convicingly that the only reason we place any emphasis on evolution in science is because scientists feel compelled to take issue with the almost ubiquitous belief in some sort of creator. As an honest scientist I feel that everyone should give this book and its central concepts a fair reading. We all accept that a disproof of existence is effectively impossible. Why, then, should we all invest so much in a theory that gives us so little. While categorization and adaptation are valuable in themselves, there is nothing of predictive or constructive value to Darwin's theory that we should invest so much of our time and resources trying to support it. In fact, working to support (rather than to refute) a theory is, by definition, bad science. Vine Deloria is finally asking the right questions. His is not a political book, but a very sound and very important criticism of what science is and what is is becoming. We can't afford to abandon the enlightenment in order to devote our inquiries soley to supporting pet affections! Required reading!

As one reviewer said, "The author, in what seems to be an attempt to make the two groups equivalent, states that both creationists and scientists require us to take things on faith." That's right, and he does so beautifully. Science and creationism are both faith based and if you carefully read Deloria, you will see his arguments are sound, that is, unless you let your paradigms get in the way like some of the reviews in here. OPEN your mind! The nice thing about this book, even if you disagree with Deloria, it will still give you food for thought, something intellectual to ponder. GET IT .... READ IT .... check your library, that's where I found it. Great read!

If you are interested in the argument between evolution and creation, especially as it is taught in the public schools, you MUST read this book. Why? Because up till now, the proponents of both theories have been largely speaking past each other. Both sides seem to assume that if Darwinian evolution is disproved and discredited (which it has been, rather convincingly) then the only alternative is to go back to a literal reading of Genesis, which to members of the scientific community seems to be a retreat to pre-Enlightenment, pre-modern, superstitious ways of thinking. This book takes pains to show that there is a third way. Dr. Deloria, a Native American Indian, has been immersed since birth in the traditions and cosmology of his Standing Rock Sioux forebears. But, more than that, he is an intuitive observer of other traditions and a legally-trained logician. He shows how other "religious" traditions, including Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian, ancient European, and yes, Judeao-Christian, when taught not as "religion" but as actual memories of observed cosmological phenomena, shed considerable light on the earth's past. In short, the history of the earth is one of catastrophe and mass extinction, followed by what can only be described as periods of mass creation. The boundary between "science" and "religion" is artificial, and was only erected after the Enlightenment when "scientists" determined that anything that conflicted with their orthodoxy was "superstition" or "religion". Now that their orthodoxy is crumbling, of course some hold onto it like a cardinal holding onto the infallibility of the Pope; but a few original thinkers, like Prof. Deloria, realize it is time to realize that the ancients had a few things to teach us after all. We would all be wise to learn from them.

Agree or not, this is a balanced critique of the embarassingly obvious mindset of the one-dimensional Creationists. I do agree with you, however, that this book is a wonderful addition to the debate from both sides, and attempts to shed some light on the "middle ground," so to speak. I found it to be an interesting and thought provoking work.

This is an interesting and reasonable assessment of the Darwin debate from a most interesting and different perspective, and one that is unususual for seeing the Darwin debate as a whole, and the subtle dialectical collusion of the two parties to the dispute, Creationists and scientists. We become so mesmerized by the details of opposing viewpoints that we fail to see the real battle, which is over normative fixations of belief, and the displacement of the middle ground. The author here simply steps past both viewpoints, taking, howevr, a somewhat warmer stance toward the Intelligent Design thinkers, rightly seeing that this perspective, beyond it trappings, can go either way. Time to hear from the shaman contingent.One of the great oddities of the development of evolutionism is the reductionist cast that cannot make hide nor hare of the clear, and unmistakable traces of early man's 'spirituality' and evolution, so visible in the late descendants of the great Spirit and shaman traditions. While it is absolutely difficult to reconstruct what this might have been like in truly primordial stages of human evolution, we must be suspicious that some such cultural form was intrinsically connected to the core cultural evolution of early man. Agree or not, this is a balanced critique of the embarassingly obvious mindset of the one-dimensional Darwinians.