Special Creation and the Fossil Record: The Central Fallacy

Abstract

T HE PROPONENTS of modern-day creationism maintain that the model fits the facts of the fossil record more directly than does the so-called model. This assertion, which is at the base of claims that creation is a legitimate alternative scientific theory to evolution, is absolutely false. It survives in creationist literature intended for general audiences mainly because of a number of fallacies and semantic tricks which vanish quickly when the model is formulated in specific terms and critically examined. Recent court cases in California and Arkansas have highlighted the claims of a number of groups throughout the country that special creation, or creation should be given with the theory of evolution in the teaching of high school biology. The concept of equal time for the two models is predicated on the notion that scientific creationism is a genuinely valid scientific theory, and upon the claims of its proponents that it represents an adequate means of explaining and interpreting the facts of natural history. In this article I will attempt to discuss the claims of creationists with regard to the fossil record, and will try to see if their assertion that the fossil record supports creation at least as well as evolution is justified in fact.