This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Notes
I give a historical background, my testimony, the ruling, as well as the controversy afterward between me and Laudan and others in my collection, But is it Science? The Philosophical Question in the Creation/Evolution Controversy (1988).
The important IDT works were Johnson (1991, 1995), Behe (1996), and Dembski (1998). Significant critical works include Pennock (1998), Miller (1999) and Forrest and Gross (2004). Pennock and Ruse (2008) updates Ruse (1988) including material on the Dover trial of 2005. See also the collaborative effort—no wonder people get tense around me!—Dembski and Ruse (2004). It was a very strange experience editing a volume where you were praying that half of the material would be worse than your wildest dreams.
This is not a way of sliding in religion. In Ruse (2015) I make it very clear that I do not believe in the truth of Christianity or any other religion, but I make my case on philosophical and theological grounds rather than because I think religion is refuted by science. Of course you cannot believe in Noah’s Flood and modern geology. I would say you cannot believe in Adam and Eve and modern paleoanthropology and that that drives a horse and cart through the Augustinian take on original sin. But there are many issues in religion, like why is there something rather than nothing, untouched by and even untouchable by modern science (Ruse 2010).
References
Behe, M. (1996). Darwin’s Black Box: The biochemical challenge to evolution. New York: Free Press.
Dawkins, R. (1986). The Blind Watchmaker. New York, NY: Norton.
Dawkins, R. (1995). A river out of Eden. New York, NY: Basic Books.
Dawkins, R. (1996). Climbing mount improbable. New York, NY: Norton.
Dawkins, R. (1998). Unweaving the rainbow: Science, delusion and the appetite for wonder. New York: Houghton Mifflin.
Dawkins, R. (2003). A Devil’s Chaplain: Reflections on hope, lies, science and love. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin.
Dawkins, R. (2006). The god delusion. New York: Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt.
Dembski, W. A. (1998). The design inference: Eliminating chance through small probabilities. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dembski, W. A., & Ruse, M. (Eds.). (2004). Debating design: Darwin to DNA. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Forrest, B., & Gross, P. R. (2004). Creationism’s Trojan Horse: The wedge of intelligent design. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gish, D. (1973). Evolution: The Fossils say no!. San Diego: Creation-Life.
Gould, S. J. (1977). Ever since Darwin. New York: Norton.
Gould, S. J. (1980). The Panda’s thumb. New York: Norton.
Gould, S. J. (1981). The mismeasure of man. New York: Norton.
Gould, S. J. (1985). The Flamingo’s smile: Reflections in natural history. New York: Norton.
Gould, S. J. (1989). Wonderful life: The burgess shale and the nature of history. New York, NY: W. W. Norton Co.
Gould, S. J. (1991). Bully for brontosaurus: Reflections in natural history. New York: Norton.
Gould, S. J. (1999). Rocks of ages: Science and religion in the fullness of life. New York: Ballantine.
Hamilton, W. D. (1964). The genetical evolution of social behaviour. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 7, 1–52.
Johnson, P. E. (1991). Darwin on trial. Washington, DC: Regnery Gateway.
Johnson, P. E. (1995). Reason in the balance: The case against naturalism in science, law and education. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
Larson, E. J. (1997). Summer for the gods: The scopes trial and America’s continuing debate over science and religion. New York: Basic Books.
Larson, E. J. (2013). Teaching creation, evolution, and the New Atheism in 21st century America: Window on an evolving establishment clause. Mississippi Law Journal, 82, 997–1048.
Lewontin, R. C. (1974). The genetic basis of evolutionary change. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
Matthews, M. R. (1994). Science teaching: The role of history and philosophy of science. London: Routledge.
Matthews, M. R. (2015). Science teaching: The contribution of history and philosophy of science (20th anniversary revised and expanded edition). London: Routledge.
Miller, K. (1999). Finding Darwin’s god. New York: Harper and Row.
Numbers, R. L. (2006). The creationists: From scientific Creationism to intelligent design (Standard ed.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Numbers, R. L. (2011). Clarifying Creationism: Five common myths. History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, 33, 129–139.
Pennock, R. (1998). Tower of Babel: Scientific evidence and the new Creationism. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Pennock, R., & Ruse, M. (Eds.). (2008). But is it science? The philosophical question in the creation/evolution controversy (2nd ed.). Buffalo, NY: Prometheus.
Ruse, M. (1979). The Darwinian revolution: Science red in tooth and claw. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Ruse, M. (Ed.). (1988). But is it science? The philosophical question in the creation/evolution controversy. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus.
Ruse, M. (1996). Monad to man: The concept of progress in evolutionary biology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Ruse, M. (2005). The evolution-creation struggle. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Ruse, M. (2006). Darwinism and its discontents. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ruse, M. (2010). Science and spirituality: Making room for faith in the age of science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ruse, M. (2015). Atheism: What everyone needs to know. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
Whitcomb, J. C., & Morris, H. M. (1961). The genesis flood: The biblical record and its scientific implications. Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ruse, M. Religion, Misallodoxy and the Teaching of Evolution: The Influence of Michael Matthews. Sci & Educ 24, 815–820 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-015-9747-9
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-015-9747-9