1. The Creation/Evolution Debate
Critical Thinking
in Science
The Creation/Evolution Debate

2. Topics What is critical thinking? 10 logical fallacies
An amazing case study in deception
Amazing creatures

3. Thinking About Thinking!
Critical thinking is the art of thinking about your thinking while you are thinking in order to make your thinking better
What did he say?

4. The Purpose of Critical Thinking
Critical thinking involves the use of questioning or inquiry techniques
The purpose of critical thinking is to:
Achieve understanding
Evaluate view points
Solve problems
This is why evolutionists do not want critical thinking in the biology class

5. PART 1
10 tactics and logical fallacies used to discredit creation and promote evolutionism

6. Fuzzy Words 1 We believe, we think Given enough time, it will happen
Might work
Must have…
“Those life forms must have evolved in the absence of oxygen,…”
Biology, Miller and Levine, 2002, p. 426.
Could possibly have been
My guess is
Seems like

7. Half Truth Half true and half false2
Half Truth
Half true and half false
Often more effective than the complete lie
The Second Law of Thermodynamics only applies to isolated systems, so it is not relevant to evolution, because the earth is an open system.

8. Bandwagon www.AnswersInGenesis.org www.ICR.org3
Bandwagon
The appeal to “everyone agrees”
All scientists accept evolution
No real scientist accepts creation

9. 4
Ridicule
Attempting to provoke a dislike against a person or idea by name-calling
Creationists are troglodytes and flat-earthers.

10. 5
Either-Or Fallacy
Presenting only one possible solution when others are justified
If we teach creation then we will have to teach every other creation myth.

11. 6
Analogy
Improperly drawing parallels while ignoring pertinent differences
Evolution is a fact like digestion or gravity.

12. Shifting the Burden of Proof7
Shifting the Burden of Proof
Forgetting that it is your responsibility to prove a claim, not your opponents to disprove it.
The claim that creation has no proof and therefore should not be taught, when evolution has never been proven or is even capable of proof.

13. 8
Equivocation
Confusing the issue by using vague terms or changing the definitions of words
Changing the definition of science to support only evolution
Not defining terms such as natural selection or microevolution

14. Bluffing Appearing to know more than you do9
Bluffing
Appearing to know more than you do
Making the claim that the fossil record is full of transitional fossils
Dinosaurs evolved into birds.

15. Appeasement The appeal that we're not really so different10
Appeasement
The appeal that we're not really so different
Most religions don’t have a problem with evolution.

16. Lucy and the Australopithecines
An Amazing Case Study
in Deception
Lucy and the Australopithecines

17. Critical Thinking
What we see and read in textbooks is not always what was found or real

18. What do you notice about this picture?
Pictures and Reality
Artistic conception
Australopithecus
africanus
What do you notice about this picture?

19. Evolutionary Preconception
John Gurche, artist, National Geographic, March, 1996 p. 109.
“I wanted to get a human soul into this ape-like face, to indicate something about where he was headed.”

20. Lucy: Two Questions What was found? Did Lucy walk upright?
Note: Lucy is our ancestor

21. What Was Found? Lucy discovered in 1974
About 40% of the fossil was found
Claimed to be 3.5 million years old
Claimed bipedal
Picture of Lucy from: Biology: Understanding Life Third Edition, 2000

22. Lucy
How do they know?
No foot bones

23. Did Lucy Walk Upright The rib cage The pelvis Leg and foot bones
To determine if Lucy walked upright three areas of anatomy can be examined
The rib cage
The pelvis
Leg and foot bones

24. Rib Cage Ape ribs are conical shaped Human ribs are barrel-like
Human: Barrel-like
Ape: Conical shape

25. Lucy’s Rib Cage
Peter Schmid (paleontologist at the Anthropological Institute in Zurich) Quoted from Origins reconsidered: In Search of What Makes Us Human by Richard Leakey and Roger Lewin
“I noticed that the ribs [Lucy] were more round in cross-section, more like what you see in apes. Human ribs are flatter in cross-section.
But the shape of the rib cage itself was the biggest surprise of all. The human rib cage is barrel shaped, and I just couldn’t get Lucy’s ribs to fit this kind of shape.”

26. Lucy’s Rib Cage
Brad Harrub (Ph.D. Anatomy and Neurobiology) and Bert Thompson (Ph.D. Microbiology), The Truth About Human Origins, 2003, p. 47.
“In Lucy’s case, her ribs are conical, like those found in apes.”
Human
Lucy

27. Chimp vs. Human Pelvis
Chimp
Human

28. Lucy’s Pelvis
J. Stern & R. Sussman, “American Journal of
Physical Anthropology,” 1983, pp. 291 & 292.
“The marked resemblance of AL (Lucy) to the chimpanzee is equally obvious…
It suggests to us that the mechanism of lateral pelvic balance during bipedalism was closer to that in apes than in humans.”

29. Knee Joint of A. afarensis
15° carrying angle (valgus)
Human = 9°
Gorilla = 0°
Chimp = 0°
Critical Thinking
Orangutan = 9°
Spider monkey = 9°

30. How Evolution Hinders Critical Thinking and Science
Rib cage
Pelvis
Carrying angle
Lucy could NOT walk upright
How Evolution Hinders Critical Thinking and Science
Footprints in History

31. Which footprint is human?
Apes and Humans – a Test
Human
This is not hard to distinguish
Which footprint is human?

32. Who made these footprints?
Laetoli Footprints
Footprints discovered in 1978 in Laetoli, Tanzania. The footprints were dated at 3.5 million years old.
Who made these footprints?

33. Ape and Human Footprints
Human Shape
Ape
(Lucy)
Human
Laetoli footprint

34. Who made these footprints?
Human Footprints
Tim White, “Evolutionary Implications of Pliocene Hominid Footprints,” Science, April 1989, p. 175.
“The uneroded footprints show a total morphological pattern like seen in modern humans.”
Who made these footprints?

35. Lucy’s Feet
David Catchpoole, Ph.D., “New evidence: Lucy was a knuckle-walker”,
“…anatomist Dr. Charles Oxnard has shown that the big toe [Lucy’s] actually sticks out as in chimpanzees.”

36. What will the evolutionists do?
A Dilemma
The footprints in Tanzania are human in shape
Lucy’s feet are ape-like
The footprints are 3.5 million years old therefore they cannot be made by humans
What will the evolutionists do?

37. Lucy: What Nice Feet You Have
Drawing from Life: The Science of Biology, Purves, Orians, and Heller, 1992, p. 604.

38. Lucy: Saint Louis Museum
Human foot on Lucy

39. Evolution Rejects the Evidence
“Professor Betsy Schumann, evolutionist expert, admits that the statue's feet ‘probably are not accurate’, but when asked whether the statue should be changed, she says,
In other words, evolution must use bad science to deceive people
Creation ex nihilo, Dec 1996, p.52.
‘Absolutely not’.”

40. Why aren’t students told about this?
Confusion about Lucy
Robert Boyd and Joan Silk, (professors of anthropology), How Humans Evolved, 2000, pp
“Anatomical evidence indicates that A. afarensis was bipedal…”
…some anthropologists are convinced by the anatomical evidence that A. afarensis was not a modern biped.”
Why the confusion?
Why aren’t students told about this?

41. 10 Unique Characteristics
Fine balance
Flat face
Upright skull
Straight back
Fully extendable hip joints
Angled femur bones
Fully extendable knee joints
Long legs
Arched feet
Strong big toes
All these deal with being bipedal
FINE BALANCE: Requires a fine sense of balance. The inner ear has a network of fluid-filled canals which contain sensors which are sensitive to movement and gravity. The sensors consist of fine hairs which send out signals to indicate direction and speed. Humans have a more complex inner ear design than apes
FLAT FACE: So their eyes have a field of view which extends down to the ground in front of the feet.
UPRIGHT SKULL: the position at which the spinal cord enters the skull. In humans it is located at the bottom of the skull. This means the most natural position for the head is looking forward in the upright position.
STRAIGHT BACK: This is ideal for upright posture because the torso and head are directly above the hips in the standing position. Apes have a curved back.
FULLY EXTENDABLE FEMUR BONES: When looking from the front humans have femur bones which are angled inwards as they come down from the hip. This has the effect of making the knees and feet closer together. Having feet closer together keeps the feet nearly under the center of the body and gives stability during walking and running. During walking and running the body is supported by one leg at any instant and so the body can topple over if the legs are not right under the body. If the feet were not close together then the body would be thrown from side to side
FULLY EXTENDABLE KNEE JOINTS:
VERY LONG LEGS: The length of human legs is about half the total body. This makes it possible to walk and run for long distances with relative ease. In contrast, apes are only about a third.
ARCHED FEET: The human foot is arched between the ball of the foot and the toes. The foot has around 26 bones and many muscles and ligaments, tendons and nerves so the foot can flex between the heel and the ball. The arched structure of the foot makes it easy for a person to press down on the ball for the foot which is important for balance and control. This ability is also important for movements such as standing on tiptoe, running and turning. It also helps absorb shocks during walking and running. In contrast the feet and hands of apes are like hands suited for grasping.
STRONG BIG TOES: This feature is important for walking and running. For each step, the final push from the ground comes from the big toe. In order to propel the body forwards in a controlled manner, the big toe must be very strong. Apes have a toe designed for grasping. They cannot make a firm push from their big toe.

42. Textbooks and Accuracy2
Eye socket 3
Flatter face 1
Teeth
Biology: The Web of Life, 1993

43. Amazing Creatures
That Defy Evolution

44. Giraffe

45. Leviathan
Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out.
Job 41:19

46. Chemical storage chamber
Bombardier Beetle
Chemical storage chamber

47. Woodpecker Hard beak Special tail feathers Special cartilage Tongue
Barbs
Glue
Long

48. Chuckwalla Lizard

49. Chuckwalla Table Manners
Pass the pepper and chuckwalla please
Chuckwalla and salt

50. Chicken Egg Each shell has about 10,000 tiny holes or pores
Question: How does the chicken form a shell around a soft, messy egg and design the shell with pores?
Blood vessels

51. Chicken Egg Nineteenth day the chick is too big The “egg-tooth”
Each step of the chicks development defies evolutionary thinking

52. True Science The history of astronomy The history of geology
The history of biology
The history of anthropology

53. Tuning Up Our Baloney Detector
Let’s go baloney hunting
False information
Misleading information
Deception by omission
Pure baloney

54. Biology: Visualizing Life, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1998, p. 221.
“Another important find was the footprints of a group of bipedal animals…
They reveal small but very humanlike feet,…”
Baloney Detector
Baloney

55. Biology: Principles and Explorations, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 2001, p. 307.
“Lucy’s leg bones indicate that she must have walked upright. She stood about 1 m (3 ft) tall.”
Baloney Detector
Baloney

56. Biology: Concepts and Connections, 2000, p. 404.
“Some 3.7 million years ago, several bipedal (upright-walking) human animals of the species Australopithecus afarensis left footprints in damp volcanic ash in what is now Tanzania in East Africa.”
Baloney Detector
Baloney

57. Biology, Miller and Levine, Prentice Hall, 2000, p. 757.
“But all researchers agree on certain basic facts. We know, for example, that humans evolved from ancestors we share with other living primates such as chimpanzees and apes.”
Baloney Detector
Baloney

58. Artist’s depiction of an australopithecine family
Biology Concepts and Connections, Campbell, Mitchell, and Reece, 2000, p. 404.
Baloney Detector
Baloney

59. Baloney “An animal dies and sinks into shallow water.”
Prentice hall, Science Explorer: Earth Science, 2002
“An animal dies and sinks into shallow water.”
Baloney Detector
Baloney

60. Scientific American, July, 2002
UN-
Scientific American, July, 2002
“… laying the foundation for cellular biochemistry. Astrochemical analysis hint that quantities of these compounds might have originated in space and fallen to earth in comets, a scenario that may solve the problem of how these constituents arose under the conditions that prevailed when our planet was young.”
Baloney Detector
Baloney

61. Colossians 2:8 (A Warning)
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ

62. The Real Issue

63. Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
Matthew 24:35, Mark 13:31, Luke 21:33

64. AiG Web Address 00439
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