Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds

Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds is directed at a lay audience who is trying to understand how to open up serious dialogue over evolution. UC Berkeley law professor Phillip Johnson and program advisor for the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture, explains that the core question in the creation/evolution debate is not about the age of the earth, but about whether life is the result of purely unguided processes or some intelligent design. Johnson advises Christian readers not to assume that God played no role in the creation process, nor to concede that faith is merely subjective while science (i.e. evolution) represents fact. 

This book also includes Johnson’s memorable analysis of the “Inherit the Wind” stereotype, where Johnson discusses how many cultural elites love to pit bigoted, close-minded religious fanatics against cool, free-thinking, liberated and intelligent scientists. Johnson tells the real story about the Scopes trial and explains how the story has been rewritten by Hollywood and Darwinists to promote a cultural stereotype that gives them power. 

Defeating Darwinism also provides advice to the young reader who is contending with evolution in school and seeking a career path. Johnson exposes the logical fallacies (straw men arguments and ad hominem attacks) and rhetorical tactics (selective choice of evidence, appeals to authority, etc.) used by Darwinists to promote their theory and then insulate it from criticism. 

Johnson concludes that “intelligent design” could provide a better explanation for biological origins, and suggests that people are ready for such an alternative to Darwinism. But such a scientific revolution will only take place if people are willing to take off their naturalistic blinders and follow the evidence where it leads.