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Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism
Religious fundamentalists and biblical literalists present any number of arguments that attempt to disprove evolution. Those with a sympathetic ear often fail to critically examine these creationist claims, leading to an ill-informed public and, perhaps more troubling, ill-advised public policy. As Aron Ra makes clear, however, every single argument deployed by creationists in their attacks on evolution is founded on fundamental scientific, religious, and historical falsehoods–all of them. Among their most popular claims is that evolution is a religion, that there are no transitional species, that there are no beneficial mutations, and that supposedly sacred scripture is the infallible word of God. Yet, as the evidence and data plainly show, each of these claims is demonstrably and unequivocally false. There is simply no truth to creationism whatsoever, and the entire enterprise rests on a foundation of falsehoods. This book explains and exposes the worst of these lies, and should be read by all who honestly care about following the evidence no matter where it might lead in pursuit of the truth.
440 pages, Paperback
Published November 1, 2016
125 people are currently reading
504 people want to read
About the author
Aron Ra
48 books40 followersAron Ra (formerly L. Aron Nelson) is an American author, podcaster and atheist activist. Ra is the host of the Ra-Men Podcast and a member of the American Atheists board of directors. He had previously served as president of the Atheist Alliance of America and ran as a Democratic candidate for Texas' District 2 Senate seat.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews
January 18, 2017
Even if I agree with the author on almost everything in this book, I can't get over how hateful it is. It oozes a sense of superiority and shows no understanding for people with disagreeing views. Yes, creationism is utter nonsense, but if you approach the discussion by condescendingly calling the other side idiots (however much that may be true), you lose the moral high ground. When compared to something that treats the same issue with infinitely more tact (Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World), this reads like an online rant. But if you're just looking for ammunition to fire at those stupid stupid theists, this is a great read.
February 4, 2017
This is a terrible book for me.
About the evolution/creationism debate, I think that both sides are wrong. I would suggest reading books about intervention theory, or the directed panspermia theory instead. In my mind they're closer to the truth. DNA evidence leads this way and cannot be disputed as the human genome is getting decoded.
The same goes about the debate of the christian or atheist. Both have no relation to real spirituality and both depend on either blind belief or pure materialism, missing the higher levels of existence. I would suggest reading books about that instead.
Wouldn't recommend this book to anyone.
About the evolution/creationism debate, I think that both sides are wrong. I would suggest reading books about intervention theory, or the directed panspermia theory instead. In my mind they're closer to the truth. DNA evidence leads this way and cannot be disputed as the human genome is getting decoded.
The same goes about the debate of the christian or atheist. Both have no relation to real spirituality and both depend on either blind belief or pure materialism, missing the higher levels of existence. I would suggest reading books about that instead.
Wouldn't recommend this book to anyone.
July 8, 2017
Full of factual errors, straw-man arguments, and logical fallacies.
September 30, 2021
Aron Ra is highly over-rated. His arguments are cladistics and phylogeny with nothing else. Why do people think either of those is good evidence?
April 25, 2018
**1/2 (rating justified fully in last paragraph: oddly for me, the review is not as harsh as the rating suggests. The complete lack of references and bibliography loses it enough that with those, it'd round up to 4.)
The book combines scientific sophistication with a rather startling philosophical naiveté (which can not account for the reality of mathematics or the validity of logical, non-empirical demonstration: he has much in common with the old Positivists) and political (social justice-multicult left) dogmatism.
Though, as Ra notes and commendably demonstrates, the scientific enterprise is largely lacking in dogmatism within its own philosophical framework - and what dogmatism there is is purged more or less quickly by the iterative and putatively self-correcting (it is self-correcting, but sometimes not over human timeframes: see Kuhn, 'The Structure of Scientific Revolutions') nature of scientific enterprise - the same can't be said for politics (is this where religion is smuggled in the back door?!), and his constant references to the progressive agenda as part and parcel of an 'enlightened, scientific' Weltanschauung undermine the assertions he is wont to make about the implications of evolutionary theory. These enlightened, empiricist progressives are apparently enlightened as how to solve the Is-ought problem, i.e., how to remove the 'fallacy' from 'naturalistic fallacy'! (Though the solution is not shared with us here.)
Of the Fifteen Falsehoods, the first five are mostly useless and demonstrate a deficiency of critical philosophical thinking and a deep ignorance of church history, historical theology, and philosophical theology. When citing a modern dogma he tends to cite it in its most farcical or extreme form (for which, given the state of emotionalistic charismaniac evangelicalism in America and the accompanying theological illiteracy which makes Ra look like an Aquinas by comparison, I can't really fault him), a practice which is essentially that of the straw man.
One Falsehood is an interesting digression on biblical errancy, which is however a topic too intricate to be exhausted or even properly overviewed in 30 pages. It is more of a focus on three different examples of errancy.
His recounting of online debates with creationists in the 1st are interesting, and he is able to cut to the heart of the matter unlike many who think the debate is about facts, evidence, or the interpretation of facts of any empirical sort (beyond the qualia generated by reading the first chapters of Genesis): while not formulating it so simply until the 14th, he clearly sees that creationism is justified by an absolute epistemological precommitment to a certain religious epistemology and biblical hermeneutic, and that creationism is not held because of empirical evidence, but without it, despite it, or in opposition to it based on the strength of that epistemological precommitment to the inerrancy of the Bible when interpreted 'literally'. Creation is accepted on the strength of biblical authority presupposed, and I know of no intelligent creationist who would deny this.
The sixth through fourteenth Falsehoods (when Ra desists from warrioring social justice and race and sex egalitarianism) are excellent in scientific content, though very weak in footnoting (there is none) and bibliography. I especially appreciated his analysis of cladistics and phylogenetics and critique of Linnean taxonomy.
The fifteenth falsehood is extraneous as it's just a much overlong demonstration of the different uses of the word 'theory' and how most laymen can't seem to acknowledge or understand the technical use, where theories have laws, but are not themselves laws, and where 'theory' is used only for the best-attested frameworks of interpretation for the facts. This is well-known to anyone with even the most marginal knowledge of the endless debate.
(He also contradicts himself, or specially pleads, by arguing for and identifying as a gnostic [strong] atheist, often on the strength of his identification of evolution, science, and atheism, while sometimes quoting Christian evolutionists on the compatibility of the two to throw a bone to believers - even naming the first Foundational Falsehood 'evolution and belief in God are incompatible' - of which I think few will have read this book. His stance regarding evolution, science, philosophy, ethics, theism and atheism is either very poorly addressed in this book, or, more likely I think, hopelessly muddled.)
I do believe the book achieves its goal - through all of its stylistic errors and political faux-pas which make it even more unpalatable for the ostensible target audience (instead of just preaching to the choir of 'enlightened, scientific' progressives) - of demonstrating the scientific certainty of the modern Darwinian synthesis according to the empirical evidence.
The book is overly long with too many repetitive examples of past arguments, as Ra delights in humiliating his opponents, something I imagine his average readers share in a 'schadenfreudeistic' way, though the 'war stories' detract from the factual scientific content.
2.5 (5/10) stars, arrived at by way of:
Five stars, minus half a star for factual errors in the first four chapters (which are unrelated to evolution and the scientific content), minus half a star for the obnoxious politics, minus half a star for the interminable war stories/condescension to very ignorant and weak opponents, minus 1 (full) star for complete lack of footnoting, endnoting, or bibliography, and almost complete lack of easily verifiable citations (one must be prepared to Google much and construct one's own bibliography, which is a significant reason to purchase such a book: to get further reading when one does not know where to start).
Without a system for rating I'd have given it a 3.5 as my 'gut feeling' gestalt impression (the sum is greater than the parts), the major weaknesses being in the lack of references and in the errors of the first chapters dealing with ecclesiastical history and historical theology. I can't fairly expect Ra to lay out and justify a full philosophy of science in a 500pp. work; his method of adopting one (which seems to resemble an objective correspondence theory with non-operationalist/non-instrumentalist Positivism or maybe an altered Verificationism) without justification is probably excusable for a book of this length, though he'd better serve his readers by taking out chapters 2-5 and a chunk of the war stories to free up 100pp to devote to philosophy of science and epistemology, which would elevate this to a 4-star work. A full apparatus would take it the rest of the way to >4.5.
The book combines scientific sophistication with a rather startling philosophical naiveté (which can not account for the reality of mathematics or the validity of logical, non-empirical demonstration: he has much in common with the old Positivists) and political (social justice-multicult left) dogmatism.
Though, as Ra notes and commendably demonstrates, the scientific enterprise is largely lacking in dogmatism within its own philosophical framework - and what dogmatism there is is purged more or less quickly by the iterative and putatively self-correcting (it is self-correcting, but sometimes not over human timeframes: see Kuhn, 'The Structure of Scientific Revolutions') nature of scientific enterprise - the same can't be said for politics (is this where religion is smuggled in the back door?!), and his constant references to the progressive agenda as part and parcel of an 'enlightened, scientific' Weltanschauung undermine the assertions he is wont to make about the implications of evolutionary theory. These enlightened, empiricist progressives are apparently enlightened as how to solve the Is-ought problem, i.e., how to remove the 'fallacy' from 'naturalistic fallacy'! (Though the solution is not shared with us here.)
Of the Fifteen Falsehoods, the first five are mostly useless and demonstrate a deficiency of critical philosophical thinking and a deep ignorance of church history, historical theology, and philosophical theology. When citing a modern dogma he tends to cite it in its most farcical or extreme form (for which, given the state of emotionalistic charismaniac evangelicalism in America and the accompanying theological illiteracy which makes Ra look like an Aquinas by comparison, I can't really fault him), a practice which is essentially that of the straw man.
One Falsehood is an interesting digression on biblical errancy, which is however a topic too intricate to be exhausted or even properly overviewed in 30 pages. It is more of a focus on three different examples of errancy.
His recounting of online debates with creationists in the 1st are interesting, and he is able to cut to the heart of the matter unlike many who think the debate is about facts, evidence, or the interpretation of facts of any empirical sort (beyond the qualia generated by reading the first chapters of Genesis): while not formulating it so simply until the 14th, he clearly sees that creationism is justified by an absolute epistemological precommitment to a certain religious epistemology and biblical hermeneutic, and that creationism is not held because of empirical evidence, but without it, despite it, or in opposition to it based on the strength of that epistemological precommitment to the inerrancy of the Bible when interpreted 'literally'. Creation is accepted on the strength of biblical authority presupposed, and I know of no intelligent creationist who would deny this.
The sixth through fourteenth Falsehoods (when Ra desists from warrioring social justice and race and sex egalitarianism) are excellent in scientific content, though very weak in footnoting (there is none) and bibliography. I especially appreciated his analysis of cladistics and phylogenetics and critique of Linnean taxonomy.
The fifteenth falsehood is extraneous as it's just a much overlong demonstration of the different uses of the word 'theory' and how most laymen can't seem to acknowledge or understand the technical use, where theories have laws, but are not themselves laws, and where 'theory' is used only for the best-attested frameworks of interpretation for the facts. This is well-known to anyone with even the most marginal knowledge of the endless debate.
(He also contradicts himself, or specially pleads, by arguing for and identifying as a gnostic [strong] atheist, often on the strength of his identification of evolution, science, and atheism, while sometimes quoting Christian evolutionists on the compatibility of the two to throw a bone to believers - even naming the first Foundational Falsehood 'evolution and belief in God are incompatible' - of which I think few will have read this book. His stance regarding evolution, science, philosophy, ethics, theism and atheism is either very poorly addressed in this book, or, more likely I think, hopelessly muddled.)
I do believe the book achieves its goal - through all of its stylistic errors and political faux-pas which make it even more unpalatable for the ostensible target audience (instead of just preaching to the choir of 'enlightened, scientific' progressives) - of demonstrating the scientific certainty of the modern Darwinian synthesis according to the empirical evidence.
The book is overly long with too many repetitive examples of past arguments, as Ra delights in humiliating his opponents, something I imagine his average readers share in a 'schadenfreudeistic' way, though the 'war stories' detract from the factual scientific content.
2.5 (5/10) stars, arrived at by way of:
Five stars, minus half a star for factual errors in the first four chapters (which are unrelated to evolution and the scientific content), minus half a star for the obnoxious politics, minus half a star for the interminable war stories/condescension to very ignorant and weak opponents, minus 1 (full) star for complete lack of footnoting, endnoting, or bibliography, and almost complete lack of easily verifiable citations (one must be prepared to Google much and construct one's own bibliography, which is a significant reason to purchase such a book: to get further reading when one does not know where to start).
Without a system for rating I'd have given it a 3.5 as my 'gut feeling' gestalt impression (the sum is greater than the parts), the major weaknesses being in the lack of references and in the errors of the first chapters dealing with ecclesiastical history and historical theology. I can't fairly expect Ra to lay out and justify a full philosophy of science in a 500pp. work; his method of adopting one (which seems to resemble an objective correspondence theory with non-operationalist/non-instrumentalist Positivism or maybe an altered Verificationism) without justification is probably excusable for a book of this length, though he'd better serve his readers by taking out chapters 2-5 and a chunk of the war stories to free up 100pp to devote to philosophy of science and epistemology, which would elevate this to a 4-star work. A full apparatus would take it the rest of the way to >4.5.
December 5, 2021
Awful as expected, but had to try
December 6, 2021
Best thing this book could possibly be used for is toilet paper
November 24, 2016
Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism by Aaron Ra
“Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism” is an entertaining, passionate expose of creationism. Secular activist, science educator and unrelenting opponent of pseudoscience nonsense Aron Ra takes the reader on a ride through the most common foundational falsehoods of creationism while espousing the strengths of the grand theory of evolution. This enlightening and enjoyable 440-page book includes the following fifteen foundational falsehoods of creationism: 1. Evolution=Atheism, 2. Sacred Scriptures are the “Word of God”, 3. Human Interpretation is “Absolute Truth”, 4. Belief is Knowledge, 5. “Evolutionism” Part I, Evolution is the Religion of Atheism, 6. “Evolutionism” Part II, Evolution Must Explain the Origin of Life, the Universe, and Everything, 7. Evolution is Random, 8. There are no Beneficial Mutations, 9. No Transitional Species Have Ever Been Found, 10. The Evolutionary ‘Tree of Life’ is not Implied in Biology or the Fossil Record, 11. Macroevolution Has Never Been Observed, 12. Creation “Science”, 13. Evolution is a Fraud, 14. Creation is Evident, and 15. Evolution is a Theory, Not a Fact.
Positives:
1. Enjoyable, provocative, well written book accessible for the masses.
2. The fascinating topic of creationism versus evolution in the capable hands of Aron Ra. Ra is passionate and knowledgeable about this topic and writes with an accessible eloquence.
3. The book is broken out neatly into fifteen foundational falsehood chapters. Ra does a wonderful job of explaining each falsehood with sufficient depth and expertise.
4. The innate ability to ask the right questions (philosophy) and the knowledge to explain the best of our current knowledge (science). “Why is it that there is such concern in so many schools (kindergarten through twelfth grade) about teaching evolution, yet there is complete consensus among scientists all over America and the rest of the world that evolution is the backbone of modern biology and a demonstrable reality historically as well?”
5. Provocative angles that make this book a joy to read. “It takes longer to refute a lie than it does to tell one.”
6. An excellent chapter where Ra debunks the notion that the Scriptures are the “Word of God”. He provides a series of examples that clearly show failed prophecies. “The first failure of this prophecy is that all the rest of that stuff that the Bible says Nebuchadnezzar himself was supposed to do was actually done by Alexander the Great a couple centuries later.” Bonus quote, “The only reason a prophet really needs to claim a god is so he can dwell in a state of make-believe and assume clout that he doesn’t deserve.”
7. You are bound to learn something new. Ra is not afraid to provoke and prod. Consider this passage, “Jewish tradition holds that the fetus is not considered a separate person until the head or most of the body has passed through the birth canal. This is concordant with Mosaic law because they’re both Jewish traditions believed to be of the same source. The book of Exodus (21:22–23) illustrates how the Bible does not consider a fetus to have value equal to that of a human life.”
8. The problems with the Bible. “The first insurmountable problem I had with the Bible was that every part of it was so weirdly illogical and grotesquely immoral that it was obviously not inspired by any superior being.”
9. The difference between belief and knowledge. “I see this issue being divided between those with a deep-seated need to believe and those who have instead only a desire to understand.”
10. Explains how the 1st Amendment contradicts the 1st Commandment.
11. Throughout the book, Ra takes glee in debunking creationists. “Creationism is a defense of mythology, not theology.”
12. Another plus from this excellent book is Ra’s use of popular quotes from movies to explain points.
13. Names the biggest disseminators of false information. “But of all of them, the highest grossing marketer of mythinformation is Answers in Genesis (AiG), based in Kentucky.”
14. Provides examples of beneficial mutations and does a wonderful job of explaining it. “Once both human and chimpanzee genomes were sequenced, it was shown that human chromosome 2 is actually two ancestral ape chromosomes fused together.”
15. A discussion on transitional forms, and fascinating traits. “When you do that, also look at the dome-shape in the roof of your mouth. Therein lies a significant difference between humans and the other apes that are still alive. That shape, that bit of space above the tongue that the other apes don’t have, is what allows us to form words, which is why they can’t speak. This trait first occurs in Homo erectus just over a million years or so ago.”
16. Defines the difference between microevolution and macroevolution. ““Microevolution is defined as changes within a species that aren’t drastic enough to create an entirely new species. Changes that result in a new species are part of macroevolution.”
17. Defines science. “The National Academy of Sciences defines science as the “systematic enterprise of gathering knowledge about the world and organizing and condensing that knowledge into testable laws and theories”—a definition further endorsed by the Academic Press Dictionary of Science & Technology.”
18. The dishonesty of creationism exposed. “In order to convincingly demonstrate just how dishonest creationism is, I offer a two-part challenge for believers hoping to defend their position: (1) name one evolutionary scientist who lied in the act of promoting evolution over creationism, and (2) name a professional creationist who did not lie when trying to defend creationism or condemn evolution.” Bonus quote, “If you have to lie to defend your truth, then it was never really truth to begin with, and creationism obviously is not like the truth and does not like the truth.”
19. An interesting revisit to the famous court case of 2005 Kitzmiller v. Dover. Provides the opinion of the court on various key arguments on irreducible complexity.
20. Clarifies with gusto what theory is in science. “According to the National Academy of Sciences (and indeed the entire global scientific community), evolution is both a fact and a theory.”
Negatives:
1. At 440 pages, this book will require an investment of your time.
2. Lack of visual material. No charts, graphs, photos to complement the excellent narrative. There is one table on fossil of ancient humans but little else. Some people assimilate information much better visually than they do via the written word.
3. I’m disappointed that there are no notes or links to source material.
4. No formal bibliography.
In summary, this book was a real treat. Aron Ra knows his material and has the ability and eloquence to share his knowledge with the reader. The only thing in this humble reviewer’s assessment that keeps this book from a five-star review is the non-existence of supplementary material. That aside, I highly recommend it!
Further suggestions: “Why Evolution Works (And Creationism Fails)” by Matt Young and Paul K. Strode, “Why Evolution Is True” by Jerry Coyne, “Your Inner Fish…” by Neil Shubin, “Why Darwin Matters” by Michael Shermer, “What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters” by Donald R. Prothero, “Undeniable” by Bill Nye”, “The Making of the Fittest” by Sean B. Carroll, “What Evolution Is” by Ernst Mayr, “Life Ascending: The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution” by Nick Lane, “Only a Theory” by Kenneth R. Miller, and “The Greatest Show on Earth” by Richard Dawkins. All books reviewed by yours truly.
“Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism” is an entertaining, passionate expose of creationism. Secular activist, science educator and unrelenting opponent of pseudoscience nonsense Aron Ra takes the reader on a ride through the most common foundational falsehoods of creationism while espousing the strengths of the grand theory of evolution. This enlightening and enjoyable 440-page book includes the following fifteen foundational falsehoods of creationism: 1. Evolution=Atheism, 2. Sacred Scriptures are the “Word of God”, 3. Human Interpretation is “Absolute Truth”, 4. Belief is Knowledge, 5. “Evolutionism” Part I, Evolution is the Religion of Atheism, 6. “Evolutionism” Part II, Evolution Must Explain the Origin of Life, the Universe, and Everything, 7. Evolution is Random, 8. There are no Beneficial Mutations, 9. No Transitional Species Have Ever Been Found, 10. The Evolutionary ‘Tree of Life’ is not Implied in Biology or the Fossil Record, 11. Macroevolution Has Never Been Observed, 12. Creation “Science”, 13. Evolution is a Fraud, 14. Creation is Evident, and 15. Evolution is a Theory, Not a Fact.
Positives:
1. Enjoyable, provocative, well written book accessible for the masses.
2. The fascinating topic of creationism versus evolution in the capable hands of Aron Ra. Ra is passionate and knowledgeable about this topic and writes with an accessible eloquence.
3. The book is broken out neatly into fifteen foundational falsehood chapters. Ra does a wonderful job of explaining each falsehood with sufficient depth and expertise.
4. The innate ability to ask the right questions (philosophy) and the knowledge to explain the best of our current knowledge (science). “Why is it that there is such concern in so many schools (kindergarten through twelfth grade) about teaching evolution, yet there is complete consensus among scientists all over America and the rest of the world that evolution is the backbone of modern biology and a demonstrable reality historically as well?”
5. Provocative angles that make this book a joy to read. “It takes longer to refute a lie than it does to tell one.”
6. An excellent chapter where Ra debunks the notion that the Scriptures are the “Word of God”. He provides a series of examples that clearly show failed prophecies. “The first failure of this prophecy is that all the rest of that stuff that the Bible says Nebuchadnezzar himself was supposed to do was actually done by Alexander the Great a couple centuries later.” Bonus quote, “The only reason a prophet really needs to claim a god is so he can dwell in a state of make-believe and assume clout that he doesn’t deserve.”
7. You are bound to learn something new. Ra is not afraid to provoke and prod. Consider this passage, “Jewish tradition holds that the fetus is not considered a separate person until the head or most of the body has passed through the birth canal. This is concordant with Mosaic law because they’re both Jewish traditions believed to be of the same source. The book of Exodus (21:22–23) illustrates how the Bible does not consider a fetus to have value equal to that of a human life.”
8. The problems with the Bible. “The first insurmountable problem I had with the Bible was that every part of it was so weirdly illogical and grotesquely immoral that it was obviously not inspired by any superior being.”
9. The difference between belief and knowledge. “I see this issue being divided between those with a deep-seated need to believe and those who have instead only a desire to understand.”
10. Explains how the 1st Amendment contradicts the 1st Commandment.
11. Throughout the book, Ra takes glee in debunking creationists. “Creationism is a defense of mythology, not theology.”
12. Another plus from this excellent book is Ra’s use of popular quotes from movies to explain points.
13. Names the biggest disseminators of false information. “But of all of them, the highest grossing marketer of mythinformation is Answers in Genesis (AiG), based in Kentucky.”
14. Provides examples of beneficial mutations and does a wonderful job of explaining it. “Once both human and chimpanzee genomes were sequenced, it was shown that human chromosome 2 is actually two ancestral ape chromosomes fused together.”
15. A discussion on transitional forms, and fascinating traits. “When you do that, also look at the dome-shape in the roof of your mouth. Therein lies a significant difference between humans and the other apes that are still alive. That shape, that bit of space above the tongue that the other apes don’t have, is what allows us to form words, which is why they can’t speak. This trait first occurs in Homo erectus just over a million years or so ago.”
16. Defines the difference between microevolution and macroevolution. ““Microevolution is defined as changes within a species that aren’t drastic enough to create an entirely new species. Changes that result in a new species are part of macroevolution.”
17. Defines science. “The National Academy of Sciences defines science as the “systematic enterprise of gathering knowledge about the world and organizing and condensing that knowledge into testable laws and theories”—a definition further endorsed by the Academic Press Dictionary of Science & Technology.”
18. The dishonesty of creationism exposed. “In order to convincingly demonstrate just how dishonest creationism is, I offer a two-part challenge for believers hoping to defend their position: (1) name one evolutionary scientist who lied in the act of promoting evolution over creationism, and (2) name a professional creationist who did not lie when trying to defend creationism or condemn evolution.” Bonus quote, “If you have to lie to defend your truth, then it was never really truth to begin with, and creationism obviously is not like the truth and does not like the truth.”
19. An interesting revisit to the famous court case of 2005 Kitzmiller v. Dover. Provides the opinion of the court on various key arguments on irreducible complexity.
20. Clarifies with gusto what theory is in science. “According to the National Academy of Sciences (and indeed the entire global scientific community), evolution is both a fact and a theory.”
Negatives:
1. At 440 pages, this book will require an investment of your time.
2. Lack of visual material. No charts, graphs, photos to complement the excellent narrative. There is one table on fossil of ancient humans but little else. Some people assimilate information much better visually than they do via the written word.
3. I’m disappointed that there are no notes or links to source material.
4. No formal bibliography.
In summary, this book was a real treat. Aron Ra knows his material and has the ability and eloquence to share his knowledge with the reader. The only thing in this humble reviewer’s assessment that keeps this book from a five-star review is the non-existence of supplementary material. That aside, I highly recommend it!
Further suggestions: “Why Evolution Works (And Creationism Fails)” by Matt Young and Paul K. Strode, “Why Evolution Is True” by Jerry Coyne, “Your Inner Fish…” by Neil Shubin, “Why Darwin Matters” by Michael Shermer, “What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters” by Donald R. Prothero, “Undeniable” by Bill Nye”, “The Making of the Fittest” by Sean B. Carroll, “What Evolution Is” by Ernst Mayr, “Life Ascending: The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution” by Nick Lane, “Only a Theory” by Kenneth R. Miller, and “The Greatest Show on Earth” by Richard Dawkins. All books reviewed by yours truly.
June 20, 2017
While I agree with virtually all of the author's arguments, and the book does include a couple of nice summaries of different aspects of evolution, it is so poorly written that I really can't recommend it to anyone.
The book is at least twice as long as it needs to be. Also, a book responding to creationist claims with some facts of evolution really needs footnotes/endnotes, references/bibliography, and an index, all of which this book lacks.
I'm really not sure who the intended audience is for this book. No creationist will get past the constant and unnecessary insults, and there are better books providing an introduction to evolution. I suppose that people who get a kick out of arguing with creationists can use some of the arguments in this book, but without references supporting those arguments, one would still need to do further research to verify the arguments.
The book is at least twice as long as it needs to be. Also, a book responding to creationist claims with some facts of evolution really needs footnotes/endnotes, references/bibliography, and an index, all of which this book lacks.
I'm really not sure who the intended audience is for this book. No creationist will get past the constant and unnecessary insults, and there are better books providing an introduction to evolution. I suppose that people who get a kick out of arguing with creationists can use some of the arguments in this book, but without references supporting those arguments, one would still need to do further research to verify the arguments.
November 23, 2019
Required reading for those interested in counter-apologetics. Aron Ra's unique style is a treasure to the atheist and skeptic communities. This book is mostly focuses on the attempts in the early 21st century to re-brand creationism as "Intelligent Design" so it could be slipped into school curriculum.
June 8, 2017
"As someone who's had the privilege of leading the human genome project, I've had the opportunity to study our own DNA instruction book at a level of detail that was never really possible before. It's also now been possible to compare our DNA with that of many other species. The evidence supporting the idea that all living things are descended from a common ancestor is truly overwhelming. I would not necessarily wish that to be so, as a Bible-believing Christian. But it is so. It does not serve faith well to try to deny that." Francis Collins
I was first introduced to Aron Ra through his YouTube videos. His videos were and are always well produced, fact checked and informative so I was looking forward to the publication of this book. I was not disappointed. While there are many different tapestries woven into the fabric of this book the one that stands out and makes this book unique is the indictment of the "professional" advocates for Creationism. No matter what level of understanding regarding evolution you bring to this book you will come away with a much more nuanced and complete understanding of the facts that evolutionary theory rests upon. But what makes this book exceptional is how it exposes the likes of Ken Ham, Ray Comfort and the Hovinds, to name a few, and shows how they are nothing but greedy opportunists fleecing their followers. There is no controversy regarding evolution and if you think there is muster up the courage to purchase and read this book.
I was first introduced to Aron Ra through his YouTube videos. His videos were and are always well produced, fact checked and informative so I was looking forward to the publication of this book. I was not disappointed. While there are many different tapestries woven into the fabric of this book the one that stands out and makes this book unique is the indictment of the "professional" advocates for Creationism. No matter what level of understanding regarding evolution you bring to this book you will come away with a much more nuanced and complete understanding of the facts that evolutionary theory rests upon. But what makes this book exceptional is how it exposes the likes of Ken Ham, Ray Comfort and the Hovinds, to name a few, and shows how they are nothing but greedy opportunists fleecing their followers. There is no controversy regarding evolution and if you think there is muster up the courage to purchase and read this book.
December 6, 2021
Reading the comment section and how many people think this book is good really makes me concerted for the direction humanity is headed.
Read
June 6, 2017As a former Pentecostal minister, I had to laugh many times at how ridiculous some of the arguments for creationism are to me now. This is a great book and I wish I had been able to read it years ago when I first started struggling with my faith. AronRa speaks at a fast pace if you have ever watched any of his videos and the book itself moves along at this tempo as well.
If you've ever caught yourself saying anything along the lines of, "Evolution is just a theory" as I did at one point, this book should give you insight into just how wrong those sentiments are.
If you've ever caught yourself saying anything along the lines of, "Evolution is just a theory" as I did at one point, this book should give you insight into just how wrong those sentiments are.
October 26, 2016
Very informative
I recommend watching his Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism series on YouTube before reading this book, it will help some with the references he makes.
It's wonderfully informative and gets right into the nitty gritty of why Creationism is false. The passion he has for biology, phylogeny and just science altogether is abundant throughout the book, along with his disdain for people who proclaim "truth" with no evidence.
I recommend watching his Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism series on YouTube before reading this book, it will help some with the references he makes.
It's wonderfully informative and gets right into the nitty gritty of why Creationism is false. The passion he has for biology, phylogeny and just science altogether is abundant throughout the book, along with his disdain for people who proclaim "truth" with no evidence.
December 1, 2016
I loved this book.
I learned more about evolution than I understood from the few books I had previously read on the subject. It wasn't overly complicated or difficult to follow. Very enjoyable and interesting to read.
I learned more about evolution than I understood from the few books I had previously read on the subject. It wasn't overly complicated or difficult to follow. Very enjoyable and interesting to read.
March 3, 2022
The Author Just came out as a closet Satanist the entire time. Talk about exposing yourself as biased the entire time!!
November 14, 2016
AronRa is a semiprofessional science-communicator and atheist debater and public speaker with a mid-level academical background in geology that has risen to a certain fame as producer of the 17 part, 3 hours long (as at that time YT limited the length of videos by private uploaders to 10 and later 15 minutes it is just slightly over 17*10 minutes long) Youtube video series "Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism" in which he eloquently and with so many examples, quotes and supporting explanations dissects the half-truths, exaggerations and outright lies Creationists use habitually to spread their religion-based pseudo-science in public. The high amount of content pressed into the relatively short time of the Videoseries results in it sometimes resembling the (in)famous "Gish Gallop", a tactic used by Creation "Science" / Intelligent Design proponents in public debates, shooting out so many "facts" and claims that the other side can impossibly get to answer to all of them in the time granted for a debate round. Therefore the demand for a slightly more in depth print version of these talks was high and it took about 7 years until it finally was answered with this book.
As the last four videos were only dedicated to two "Falsehoods" spread into two parts each, there are fifteen chapters, whose core is based on the videos' content, at times expanded with additional evidence discovered during the last 7 years, some added background information on how and why this series and the book were created and on occasion going into detail where common attempts to refute his refutation of Creationism is concerned.
While AronRa has done a lot of research and is especially well versed in anything connected to his main field of interest, the study of Phylogeny (that is the combined result of the old field of taxonomy which worked with studying the similarites and differences between the structures and parts of living organisms and tried to place them into a tree of life demonstrating and confirming common descent that way and more modern additional ressources like the analysis of genetic information into a better version of that tree), even leading to him championing the creation of an online resource allowing for the first time to showcase the complete Tree of life as current science sees it and has found evidence for (the so called Phylogeny Project, which is as of today still being programmed), that does not mean he is an absolute authority on all fields of science the Creationist arguments can and will encompass. As that includes widely different subjects as Cosmology, Astrophysics, Biology and more it is impossible to have a TOTAL grasp on the subject matter. So the book can and will contain inaccuracies, misquoted bits of scientific papers and of course also things that are taken as adequately proven today but can turn out as a wrong interpretation by science later. Anybody reading it (or viewing the videos online) should be aware of that.
That said the evidence he shows is overwhelming and practically does not leave any major creationist arguments (compare the Dover Trial where even the staunchly conservative judge pointed out the dishonesty of the Creationist witnesses in his decision) intact, while simultaenously highlighting the insincerity and sleight-of-hand tactics (first and famous amongst these are tactics used by e.g. Kent Hovind that inflate half a dozen fields of science dealing with the Big Bang, Star and Planet formation, Chemical processes etc into the one common moniker Evolution, thus creating the appearance that everybody defending Evolution against the attacks posed by "ID" and Creation "Science" upon the subject must also be equally well versed and knowledgeable in those other fields of all of Evolution will be "debunked"...) used to deceive gullible audiences into accepting the claims of biblical authority and Science being compatible when speaking of Natural Sciences and what we today know about the origins of Life on Earth and our own species' past. In that way the book totally delivers on its title and intent.
As for the style... at times it is hard to follow the multitude of points given on a few pages, although the more sedate pace reading a book can allow is certainly helping with absorbing the material better than in video form where the language tends to run away once you're hung with understanding a specific point. It's far easier to reread the same page three or four times until a sentence you've got trouble with understanding the first time, than to constantly rewind and rewatch such a moment on video. Still that does not always make for a compelling and entertaining read, although AronRa's great experience as public speaker and in past debates helps with the attempt to make it as much so as possible. At the end this is not a book for just casual lecture or the few moments before bedtime where you want to just clear your thoughts and get your mind calmed down.
But if you are willing to invest the time and are interested in the subject, this is nonetheless a fantastic way to enter into the debate as a layperson, as that is the audience it was designed for. And through the countless references to "proper" reasearch and scientists defending it, it also opens up any number of avenues to go from here into a more in depth, methodical study of the field of Evolution. If you want to know more about evolution but the jargon of your average schoolbook or scientist writing about it scares you off from attempting it, this is your entrance into the beauty and wonders of biology.
As the last four videos were only dedicated to two "Falsehoods" spread into two parts each, there are fifteen chapters, whose core is based on the videos' content, at times expanded with additional evidence discovered during the last 7 years, some added background information on how and why this series and the book were created and on occasion going into detail where common attempts to refute his refutation of Creationism is concerned.
While AronRa has done a lot of research and is especially well versed in anything connected to his main field of interest, the study of Phylogeny (that is the combined result of the old field of taxonomy which worked with studying the similarites and differences between the structures and parts of living organisms and tried to place them into a tree of life demonstrating and confirming common descent that way and more modern additional ressources like the analysis of genetic information into a better version of that tree), even leading to him championing the creation of an online resource allowing for the first time to showcase the complete Tree of life as current science sees it and has found evidence for (the so called Phylogeny Project, which is as of today still being programmed), that does not mean he is an absolute authority on all fields of science the Creationist arguments can and will encompass. As that includes widely different subjects as Cosmology, Astrophysics, Biology and more it is impossible to have a TOTAL grasp on the subject matter. So the book can and will contain inaccuracies, misquoted bits of scientific papers and of course also things that are taken as adequately proven today but can turn out as a wrong interpretation by science later. Anybody reading it (or viewing the videos online) should be aware of that.
That said the evidence he shows is overwhelming and practically does not leave any major creationist arguments (compare the Dover Trial where even the staunchly conservative judge pointed out the dishonesty of the Creationist witnesses in his decision) intact, while simultaenously highlighting the insincerity and sleight-of-hand tactics (first and famous amongst these are tactics used by e.g. Kent Hovind that inflate half a dozen fields of science dealing with the Big Bang, Star and Planet formation, Chemical processes etc into the one common moniker Evolution, thus creating the appearance that everybody defending Evolution against the attacks posed by "ID" and Creation "Science" upon the subject must also be equally well versed and knowledgeable in those other fields of all of Evolution will be "debunked"...) used to deceive gullible audiences into accepting the claims of biblical authority and Science being compatible when speaking of Natural Sciences and what we today know about the origins of Life on Earth and our own species' past. In that way the book totally delivers on its title and intent.
As for the style... at times it is hard to follow the multitude of points given on a few pages, although the more sedate pace reading a book can allow is certainly helping with absorbing the material better than in video form where the language tends to run away once you're hung with understanding a specific point. It's far easier to reread the same page three or four times until a sentence you've got trouble with understanding the first time, than to constantly rewind and rewatch such a moment on video. Still that does not always make for a compelling and entertaining read, although AronRa's great experience as public speaker and in past debates helps with the attempt to make it as much so as possible. At the end this is not a book for just casual lecture or the few moments before bedtime where you want to just clear your thoughts and get your mind calmed down.
But if you are willing to invest the time and are interested in the subject, this is nonetheless a fantastic way to enter into the debate as a layperson, as that is the audience it was designed for. And through the countless references to "proper" reasearch and scientists defending it, it also opens up any number of avenues to go from here into a more in depth, methodical study of the field of Evolution. If you want to know more about evolution but the jargon of your average schoolbook or scientist writing about it scares you off from attempting it, this is your entrance into the beauty and wonders of biology.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 3, 2019
This was an all around decent book that provides valuable insights into the creation/evolution debate. Aron does well in exposing the foundational falsehoods and misinformation that undergirds the modern day young earth creationist movement, and in particular I appreciated his down to earth language and frequent use of pop culture references. In addition to answering common objections to Darwinian evolution by natural selection and exposing how creationists misunderstand the methodology of science at a fundamental level, he describes his first hand experience of trying to articulate these realities as an activist and science educator in a very hostile region of the United States.
That being said, I found a few issues that are worth pointing out as well. For starters, it isn't really a great book for reaching across the aisle to the moderately christian/religious who question evolution but are seeking to understand more. And to clarify, I'm not against the use of strong language or saying Aron should've pulled his punches. However, I do think it resonates more with some audiences than others, depending on who you're trying to appeal to the most.
This leads to another issue I found, which was the overall layout and organization of the book. By looking at the title and the book description, one would think it is primarily about exposing the flaws of young earth creationism and defending the modern scientific consensus. To an extent, it does just that. However, it also spends a lot of time on subjects that aren't ultimately necessary to this objective goal.
For example, chapter one starts out with the first foundational falsehood titled "Evolution = Atheism". True enough that this is a falsehood tauted by creationists. Finishing this chapter, one would think Aron is trying to differentiate between Biblical literalism/6 day creationism and other types of theology/worldviews that take a more responsible approach to the scientific method. But in the next few chapters he appears to be criticizing theism/supernatural belief in general and christianity in particular while defending atheism and naturalism. Although I don't disagree with most of what he argues, it seems a strange plot twist when chapter one was about why you don't have to be an atheist to accept evolution.
He seems to shift from criticizing actual young earth creationism on one hand to critiquing broader theism and even psychics, karma and the paranormal on the other, which doesn't exactly do justice to the book's title. It isnt until about half way through that the focus turns completely to the scientific and philosophical problems with the YEC movement. Honestly I felt like it could've been two seperate books, especially at over 400 pages. I also think having endnotes and a bibliography would be a bit more helpful to a book with so many references.
But other than that I did enjoy this book and it was very helpful in continuing my deconstruction of creationism. Time well spent and worth the read if you can get around some of the rough edges.
That being said, I found a few issues that are worth pointing out as well. For starters, it isn't really a great book for reaching across the aisle to the moderately christian/religious who question evolution but are seeking to understand more. And to clarify, I'm not against the use of strong language or saying Aron should've pulled his punches. However, I do think it resonates more with some audiences than others, depending on who you're trying to appeal to the most.
This leads to another issue I found, which was the overall layout and organization of the book. By looking at the title and the book description, one would think it is primarily about exposing the flaws of young earth creationism and defending the modern scientific consensus. To an extent, it does just that. However, it also spends a lot of time on subjects that aren't ultimately necessary to this objective goal.
For example, chapter one starts out with the first foundational falsehood titled "Evolution = Atheism". True enough that this is a falsehood tauted by creationists. Finishing this chapter, one would think Aron is trying to differentiate between Biblical literalism/6 day creationism and other types of theology/worldviews that take a more responsible approach to the scientific method. But in the next few chapters he appears to be criticizing theism/supernatural belief in general and christianity in particular while defending atheism and naturalism. Although I don't disagree with most of what he argues, it seems a strange plot twist when chapter one was about why you don't have to be an atheist to accept evolution.
He seems to shift from criticizing actual young earth creationism on one hand to critiquing broader theism and even psychics, karma and the paranormal on the other, which doesn't exactly do justice to the book's title. It isnt until about half way through that the focus turns completely to the scientific and philosophical problems with the YEC movement. Honestly I felt like it could've been two seperate books, especially at over 400 pages. I also think having endnotes and a bibliography would be a bit more helpful to a book with so many references.
But other than that I did enjoy this book and it was very helpful in continuing my deconstruction of creationism. Time well spent and worth the read if you can get around some of the rough edges.
July 9, 2020
Perfect for what it should be.
Is this the best book in the world? No. (And I wish there were endnotes for one)
But it is the best book creationism deserves. (You don't get Neil Degrasse Tyson Kent Hovid, Ken Ham and every other ignorant preacher in American, he has better things to do than dealing with your nonsense.)
That aside, since very little academic science writing is directed at directly arguing with young earth creationism (because since gives no predictive power, proposes no testable hypotheses, cannot be remotely considered scientific, and has never added in any way ever to humanity's knowledge and therefore is not worth addressing) it falls to science educators to fill the gap.
Apparently some people have an issue with Aron 'not being nice' or something (as if that affects the truth of the argument) but given the amount of ignorant preachers and Sunday school teachers who have I personally interacted or been "taught" by, not to mention the lying professional creationists whose material I have been exposed to, this attitude is completely justified. They are willfully ignorant at best, and most deserve a nomination for a "lying for Jesus award" or are professional cons at worst and all are guilty of spewing complete and utter nonsense to mislead their following.
So here's a free tip, maybe if you're completely ignorant of geology, biology, physics, nuclear chemistry, genetics, microbiology, embryology, endocrinology, botany (somehow), dendrochronology, astronomy, astrobiology, ecology, hydrology, anthropology, neurology, psychology and basically every field of science since the days of Newton, don't include beliefs about those things in your religion, and don't pretend to understand anything about how the world works either because you're clearly incapable of that.
Is this the best book in the world? No. (And I wish there were endnotes for one)
But it is the best book creationism deserves. (You don't get Neil Degrasse Tyson Kent Hovid, Ken Ham and every other ignorant preacher in American, he has better things to do than dealing with your nonsense.)
That aside, since very little academic science writing is directed at directly arguing with young earth creationism (because since gives no predictive power, proposes no testable hypotheses, cannot be remotely considered scientific, and has never added in any way ever to humanity's knowledge and therefore is not worth addressing) it falls to science educators to fill the gap.
Apparently some people have an issue with Aron 'not being nice' or something (as if that affects the truth of the argument) but given the amount of ignorant preachers and Sunday school teachers who have I personally interacted or been "taught" by, not to mention the lying professional creationists whose material I have been exposed to, this attitude is completely justified. They are willfully ignorant at best, and most deserve a nomination for a "lying for Jesus award" or are professional cons at worst and all are guilty of spewing complete and utter nonsense to mislead their following.
So here's a free tip, maybe if you're completely ignorant of geology, biology, physics, nuclear chemistry, genetics, microbiology, embryology, endocrinology, botany (somehow), dendrochronology, astronomy, astrobiology, ecology, hydrology, anthropology, neurology, psychology and basically every field of science since the days of Newton, don't include beliefs about those things in your religion, and don't pretend to understand anything about how the world works either because you're clearly incapable of that.
March 6, 2019
I give Ra credit for accurately portraying the arguments/claims of creationists (rather than strawmanning them). He gets further credit for cleanly and powerfully debunking them — or, more accurately, showing them for the absurdities they are. And I say this as a former Young Earth Creationist (as part of my fundamentalist, evangelical upbringing). Further, Ra's writing style is efficient; the reading went smoothly.
But I take off points for two things. (1) A book like this needs at least a list of sources/documentation at the end, but preferably also inline citations to those sources. While I know firsthand that much of what he said is true, and everything else I looked up turned out to be true as well, I'm imagining a reader who isn't already convinced. (2) The organizational structure is lacking. While each sentence and paragraph was written well enough, it often seemed like they were printed separately and shuffled out of order. (This was less true in some chapters than in others.)
Still, I highly recommend the book for anyone raised with creationism and who is having doubts. (Also for anyone who wants to become familiar with what creationists actually assert, but who doesn't want to directly interact with the absurdity.)
(I have published a longer review on my website.)
March 6, 2018
This was quite the read. I’m not going to get into religious discussion, but this book confirmed a lot of my current ideas, and has given me the desire to do more research of my own. I fully recommend this.
October 6, 2016
Fantastic book, more to come.
January 13, 2019
If you have watched any of his videos, the book is just like that; you can hear it in the writing, the same mannerisms and intellect; it keeps your attention.
May 24, 2019
A good companion to the video series on youtube.
May 27, 2024
AN EXTENSION OF THE AUTHOR’S VIDEO SERIES
Author Aron Ra wrote in the Preface to this 2016 book, “I’ve always been an irreverent sort of person, with a preference for science over superstition, and ever since I first connected to the Internet, I’ve spent an unhealthy amount of my time obsessing over the topic of origins, particularly as relates to the evolution-creationism debate… The Usenet group Talk.Origins … [gave] me an opportunity to listen to the best arguments on both sides of the debate… How do I reach people?... I needed to teach people directly… But faith-based psycho-babble is shared for free everywhere by people who don’t know what they’re talking about… The only way I could see to counter that was to make a presentation suitable for those with minimal education and a short attention span… So I made a series of videos addressing each of these foundational falsehoods of creationism… That series was very popular. It changed my life, and I have hundreds of emails in my inbox from others who say that it changed their lives too. Finally, I met a book publisher … [who] wanted me to convert these videos to text… but also to ‘flesh out’ the arguments and evidence and references that I had to flash so fast before… This book is the fulfillment of that request.”
He points out about supposed “parallels” between Jesus and pagan gods, “it is important to note that while there definitely are many valid claims of strong parallels between different religious characters, not all such claims have been adequately researched or verified before publication, and many can’t be sourced. Some are based on earlier speculations that in turn are based on documents or cultural artifacts that have either been lost of misinterpreted---or that never existed to begin with… I was able to verify very few of the many claims made about the assemblage of myths that culminated in the character of Jesus the Christ… Some of my associates have independently arrived at the same conclusion.” (Pg. 72-73)
He recalls, “I never declared myself to be Mormon like my mother and grandmother had. I couldn’t do that because I didn’t know the scope of that Mormons believed. I hadn’t studied it, so how could I say whether I believed everything they do?... If I hadn’t been raised by a Mormon living in a non-Mormon culture, I might have missed out on an important lesson regarding religious prejudice. What I learned is that if you want to know what a Mormon believes, ask a Mormon; don’t ask a Baptist…” (Pg. 80-81)
He states, “The first insurmountable problem I had with the Bible was that every part of it was so weirdly illogical and grotesquely immoral that it was obviously not inspired by any superior being. The Bible is written remarkably badly… what I found… were only the insane ravings of superstitious primitives apparently trying to justify their own inhuman atrocities by pretending to speak for their god… The Bible is a deeply repugnant tome that celebrates evil, promotes ignorance, and punishes wisdom as an abominable sin. No deity worthy of worship would want to be associated with that despicable compilation… I eventually threw the book across the room in disgust.” (Pg. 84)
He continues, “So I believed in God, but I still had to reject the Bible at least on principle, if not on fact as well, because my presupposition that God is real left only two options: either God is good, and the Bible is completely wrong about him, or if the Bible is true, then God is neither holy, nor just, nor wise, nor loving, nor forgiving, nor anything else that could be considered ‘good.’ … So I said a prayer. I’ve only done that a handful of times in my life, but this was important. I said it alone in the privacy of my room, just like the Bible says in Matthew 6:5-6… In my prayer, I challenged God, demanding that he either provide some explanation to justify all the heinous atrocities and horrible judgements attributed to him in the Bible, or he should distance himself from all of that by showing me that the Bible does not speak for him. I even gave an ultimatum---that if he did not answer my prayer, then he could not have my soul… In some sense, I can honestly say that prayer was answered. Over the course of my life, it seems that practically every subject of study eventually implies that… the Bible is wrong, and it’s wrong about everything.” (Pg. 85)
He observes, “The problem creationists have with evolution is not that it challenges belief in God, because it doesn’t. Their problem is that evolution, like every other field of science, eventually inevitably challenges the accuracy and authority of the storybooks that creationists equate TO God. Creationism is a defense of MYTHology, not THEOlogy. Consequently, creationists tend to reject science almost entirely, and will often take aspects of all the various fields of study they perceive as threatening and lump them all together under one heading, which they then refer to as ‘evolutionism.’ It’s an attempt to minimize the sheer volume of sciences allied against them.” (Pg. 171)
He points out, “Throughout my youth, whenever I was challenged to defend my ‘belief’ in evolution, I had to admit that we didn’t have fish with feet---until they finally found it in 1987… they’ve actually found a whole sequence of them, from fish with lobe-fins or legs without feet to fish with partially developed fingers in their fins, and on into fish that could actually crawl on still-developing legs… it turns out that fish were already walking before they left the water… Our Darwin fish was found in the final stage of [the late Devonian period], right where it was supposed to be.” (Pg. 251)
On the distinction between “microevolution” and “macroevolution,” he comments, “The only reason creationists cling to these micro and macro distinctions is so they can have some excuse to accept ‘small-scale’ evolution (which they begrudgingly admit cannot be denied even with the greatest faith), while still denying ‘large-scale’ evolution, where their exact parameter of how large must remain elusive to prevent it every being disproved. Of course that means ‘large-scale’ evolution can mean whatever they want it to at any given moment.” (Pg. 317)
He recounts, “some people in my area held a seminar of sorts to discuss the film [Expelled]… The last panelist was Frank Sherwin, who was then referred to as the bulldog of the Institute of Creation Research… I was just getting involved enough that I began to consider myself an activist… My then fourteen-year-old son Connor, was one of my worst critics back then. So I took him with me, just so that he could see that this controversial conflict was all about… Connor looked around to notice a full audience of naïve patrons eagerly swallowing it all up… At the end of the presentation… I wanted to confront Sherwin, but … I was immediately surrounded by a crowd of emotionally charged believers… Connor was small enough then that he managed to slip through the crowd… I could see him clearly berating Sherwin… Moments later, Sherwin was gone… my son’s crowd gave me the report: the boy bluntly and fearlessly accused Sherwin of lying on a series of listed points…. They said he had Sherwin visibly sweating and confused until he literally fled the room!” (Pg. 342-343)
He notes, “Albert Einstein is typically seen as representative of scientific genius, so he is the one most often misquoted by the religious in their attempt to appear scientific… It doesn’t matter whether Einstein believed in the Jewish god, or that he actually believed in some other natural motion that he just liked to refer to as God. In any case, regardless of whatever respect he may have for the modern practice of religious culture and tradition, he still gave no credence to the fables in the Bible, and that’s all that might be relevant to me.” (Pg. 384)
This book will be of keen interest to those (mostly who are familiar with such discussions on the Internet) looking for critiques of Creationism.
Author Aron Ra wrote in the Preface to this 2016 book, “I’ve always been an irreverent sort of person, with a preference for science over superstition, and ever since I first connected to the Internet, I’ve spent an unhealthy amount of my time obsessing over the topic of origins, particularly as relates to the evolution-creationism debate… The Usenet group Talk.Origins … [gave] me an opportunity to listen to the best arguments on both sides of the debate… How do I reach people?... I needed to teach people directly… But faith-based psycho-babble is shared for free everywhere by people who don’t know what they’re talking about… The only way I could see to counter that was to make a presentation suitable for those with minimal education and a short attention span… So I made a series of videos addressing each of these foundational falsehoods of creationism… That series was very popular. It changed my life, and I have hundreds of emails in my inbox from others who say that it changed their lives too. Finally, I met a book publisher … [who] wanted me to convert these videos to text… but also to ‘flesh out’ the arguments and evidence and references that I had to flash so fast before… This book is the fulfillment of that request.”
He points out about supposed “parallels” between Jesus and pagan gods, “it is important to note that while there definitely are many valid claims of strong parallels between different religious characters, not all such claims have been adequately researched or verified before publication, and many can’t be sourced. Some are based on earlier speculations that in turn are based on documents or cultural artifacts that have either been lost of misinterpreted---or that never existed to begin with… I was able to verify very few of the many claims made about the assemblage of myths that culminated in the character of Jesus the Christ… Some of my associates have independently arrived at the same conclusion.” (Pg. 72-73)
He recalls, “I never declared myself to be Mormon like my mother and grandmother had. I couldn’t do that because I didn’t know the scope of that Mormons believed. I hadn’t studied it, so how could I say whether I believed everything they do?... If I hadn’t been raised by a Mormon living in a non-Mormon culture, I might have missed out on an important lesson regarding religious prejudice. What I learned is that if you want to know what a Mormon believes, ask a Mormon; don’t ask a Baptist…” (Pg. 80-81)
He states, “The first insurmountable problem I had with the Bible was that every part of it was so weirdly illogical and grotesquely immoral that it was obviously not inspired by any superior being. The Bible is written remarkably badly… what I found… were only the insane ravings of superstitious primitives apparently trying to justify their own inhuman atrocities by pretending to speak for their god… The Bible is a deeply repugnant tome that celebrates evil, promotes ignorance, and punishes wisdom as an abominable sin. No deity worthy of worship would want to be associated with that despicable compilation… I eventually threw the book across the room in disgust.” (Pg. 84)
He continues, “So I believed in God, but I still had to reject the Bible at least on principle, if not on fact as well, because my presupposition that God is real left only two options: either God is good, and the Bible is completely wrong about him, or if the Bible is true, then God is neither holy, nor just, nor wise, nor loving, nor forgiving, nor anything else that could be considered ‘good.’ … So I said a prayer. I’ve only done that a handful of times in my life, but this was important. I said it alone in the privacy of my room, just like the Bible says in Matthew 6:5-6… In my prayer, I challenged God, demanding that he either provide some explanation to justify all the heinous atrocities and horrible judgements attributed to him in the Bible, or he should distance himself from all of that by showing me that the Bible does not speak for him. I even gave an ultimatum---that if he did not answer my prayer, then he could not have my soul… In some sense, I can honestly say that prayer was answered. Over the course of my life, it seems that practically every subject of study eventually implies that… the Bible is wrong, and it’s wrong about everything.” (Pg. 85)
He observes, “The problem creationists have with evolution is not that it challenges belief in God, because it doesn’t. Their problem is that evolution, like every other field of science, eventually inevitably challenges the accuracy and authority of the storybooks that creationists equate TO God. Creationism is a defense of MYTHology, not THEOlogy. Consequently, creationists tend to reject science almost entirely, and will often take aspects of all the various fields of study they perceive as threatening and lump them all together under one heading, which they then refer to as ‘evolutionism.’ It’s an attempt to minimize the sheer volume of sciences allied against them.” (Pg. 171)
He points out, “Throughout my youth, whenever I was challenged to defend my ‘belief’ in evolution, I had to admit that we didn’t have fish with feet---until they finally found it in 1987… they’ve actually found a whole sequence of them, from fish with lobe-fins or legs without feet to fish with partially developed fingers in their fins, and on into fish that could actually crawl on still-developing legs… it turns out that fish were already walking before they left the water… Our Darwin fish was found in the final stage of [the late Devonian period], right where it was supposed to be.” (Pg. 251)
On the distinction between “microevolution” and “macroevolution,” he comments, “The only reason creationists cling to these micro and macro distinctions is so they can have some excuse to accept ‘small-scale’ evolution (which they begrudgingly admit cannot be denied even with the greatest faith), while still denying ‘large-scale’ evolution, where their exact parameter of how large must remain elusive to prevent it every being disproved. Of course that means ‘large-scale’ evolution can mean whatever they want it to at any given moment.” (Pg. 317)
He recounts, “some people in my area held a seminar of sorts to discuss the film [Expelled]… The last panelist was Frank Sherwin, who was then referred to as the bulldog of the Institute of Creation Research… I was just getting involved enough that I began to consider myself an activist… My then fourteen-year-old son Connor, was one of my worst critics back then. So I took him with me, just so that he could see that this controversial conflict was all about… Connor looked around to notice a full audience of naïve patrons eagerly swallowing it all up… At the end of the presentation… I wanted to confront Sherwin, but … I was immediately surrounded by a crowd of emotionally charged believers… Connor was small enough then that he managed to slip through the crowd… I could see him clearly berating Sherwin… Moments later, Sherwin was gone… my son’s crowd gave me the report: the boy bluntly and fearlessly accused Sherwin of lying on a series of listed points…. They said he had Sherwin visibly sweating and confused until he literally fled the room!” (Pg. 342-343)
He notes, “Albert Einstein is typically seen as representative of scientific genius, so he is the one most often misquoted by the religious in their attempt to appear scientific… It doesn’t matter whether Einstein believed in the Jewish god, or that he actually believed in some other natural motion that he just liked to refer to as God. In any case, regardless of whatever respect he may have for the modern practice of religious culture and tradition, he still gave no credence to the fables in the Bible, and that’s all that might be relevant to me.” (Pg. 384)
This book will be of keen interest to those (mostly who are familiar with such discussions on the Internet) looking for critiques of Creationism.
May 5, 2020
This book is a game changer, I encourage anyone who was brought up to believe that the earth was 6000 years old to read it. People may praise this book for exposing how dishonest and false creationism (or more specifically young earth creationism) is, but for me, Aron's heart for Truth and Knowledge really shines through in this book. This is not a book that will leave you unchanged, countless times Aron makes the definitive case against the proponents of creationism and their wilful ignorance. Lines like "Its okay to lie if you're lying for Jesus" or "I know the fossil record doesn't say X, but I believe its important to teach children that it does" are just some of the abhorrent lines quoted from the mouths of the leaders of the young earth creationism movement. If you are looking for a book that explains not only the falsity of young earth creationism but the history of the argument. look no further.
October 24, 2019
This is a great expansion for the youtube series (that have the same name) in which the author at that time (due to YouTube's restrictions on video duration back in 2008) had to cut and condense the information to 11 minutes videos.
It is a must read for creationists who are quick to falsify evolution in favor in creationism. I'm a firm believer that everyone deserves to know the facts in order to make one's own judgement, and I believe religious leaders has done their audience a great disservice preaching that evolution can't be real. I'd urge people of different walks of life to read (or preferably listen to the audiobook) as it has done a great job of clarifying the facts from the myth, and in order to make their own conclusions.
It is a must read for creationists who are quick to falsify evolution in favor in creationism. I'm a firm believer that everyone deserves to know the facts in order to make one's own judgement, and I believe religious leaders has done their audience a great disservice preaching that evolution can't be real. I'd urge people of different walks of life to read (or preferably listen to the audiobook) as it has done a great job of clarifying the facts from the myth, and in order to make their own conclusions.
February 15, 2017
Aron does a good job of breaking down evolution education into sections that are easily grasped. He puts a nail in the coffin that is creationsim and I think we can quit spending time making sure that lid doesn't come open again. I love that Aron is accessible as well. My one critique is that he sometimes is repetitive. Perhaps that was perception on my part because i am familiar with his youtube offerings. My favorite section is in regard to the phylogeny challenge. Like Aron I think this in particular leaves creationist holding an empty bag. They have no answer to this. A slam dunk must read for anyone who wants to have easily understood arguments to combat ignorance.
February 15, 2020
Clarity without charity
Aaron Ra brings an energy and enthusiasm to the unfortunate debate that continues on evolution versus the bald assertion (and nothing else) of creationism, and it's rebranding -- intelligent design, also known as creationism wearing a lab coat. Re demonstrates better than any other how utterly ridiculous the ID assertion is yet how it remains a serious political, religious, and educational threat, especially to our children who are often coerced to learn this nonsense in school. While sometimes Ra gets too deep in the weeds for my liking, I prefer an author be, when in doubt, over-inconclusive. And for that, Ra is surely guilty.
Aaron Ra brings an energy and enthusiasm to the unfortunate debate that continues on evolution versus the bald assertion (and nothing else) of creationism, and it's rebranding -- intelligent design, also known as creationism wearing a lab coat. Re demonstrates better than any other how utterly ridiculous the ID assertion is yet how it remains a serious political, religious, and educational threat, especially to our children who are often coerced to learn this nonsense in school. While sometimes Ra gets too deep in the weeds for my liking, I prefer an author be, when in doubt, over-inconclusive. And for that, Ra is surely guilty.
January 28, 2018
Superb summary of lies that creationists propagate
This book dismantles the lies constantly told about evolution, maybe for some lying for jesus is necessary but for people who value facts, evidence and reality, this book is for you. Creationism is a con trick spread like a virus to inoculate the gullible on behalf of the con artists, tricksters and swindlers of the world. This book is highly recommended, based upon the excellent video series on YouTube that Aron Ra created, look forward to reading more from him in the future.
This book dismantles the lies constantly told about evolution, maybe for some lying for jesus is necessary but for people who value facts, evidence and reality, this book is for you. Creationism is a con trick spread like a virus to inoculate the gullible on behalf of the con artists, tricksters and swindlers of the world. This book is highly recommended, based upon the excellent video series on YouTube that Aron Ra created, look forward to reading more from him in the future.
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