KANSAS 1999, Arkansas 1982, Tennessee 1925  are all important dates in the American "monkey wars". Faced with this assault on science, Niles
Eldredge, a leading American palaeontologist and co-creator with Stephen J. Gould of the theory of punctuated equilibrium, has taken up the cudgels on
Darwin's behalf. In "The Triumph of Evolution" he argues that evolution offers testable explanations of the way the world is, while creationism
doesn't. He writes passionately, fearing that legislation in the US forcing the teaching of creationism will doom science. I agree.
     Eldredge is at his best when he argues for evolution, rather than against creationism. His style is authoritative, lucid  and refreshingly
often in the first person. Take the Cambrian explosion. Creationists say that science cannot explain how a vast number of species suddenly appeared
on Earth about 570 million years ago. Nothing, they say, but divine intervention can account for this explosion of life on Earth. Eldredge
takes us to the evidence. "I walked up a dry creek bed . . . on the CaliforniaNevada border," he says, painting a word picture as he follow
the succession of species. At first, he finds only trace fossils, but as he gradually works his way up the creek he comes to fossil skeletal remains.
Wonderful life, he agrees. But he points out that on his journey of a few hours he saw the remains of 10 million years of evolution. There was no
explosion, no sudden burst of creation. His account of the history of life is brief and clear.
     On the theory of creationism itself, he exposes the follies of "young Earth" creationism, which declares Earth to be only a few thousand years
old. Its proponents rely on misquotations to back up this theory. Eldredge's comments are restrained, but firm. "It is the creationists ...
who distort the truth, freely slinging mud at all who cross their myopic view," he says. The gross distortion by the young Earth creationists
always angers me too.
     More risible still is "flood geology", which takes literally the Biblical story of Noah's Ark. According to these people, the rising
floodwaters forced "higher" animals to flee to high ground: hence their fossil remains are found in newer strata.
     Unfortunately, Eldredge doesn't distinguish between different types of creationist. The dominant young Earthers produce absolute nonsense, but
"old-Earth" and "intelligent design" creationists, who accept geology and cosmology, are more science-friendly. Eldredge refutes intelligent
designers such as Phillip Johnson for his simplistic rhetoric and Michael Behe for questionable biochemistry, but he is wrong to lump them in with
the young Earthers.
     What motivates the creationists ? Eldredge identifies religious and moral aims, quoting examples from the 1970s. He could add a few more
recent ones. In May intelligent design creationists addressed members of Congress in Washington. To show how morally outrageous Darwinian evolution was,
they invoked the words of a song by the Bloodhound Gang: "You and me baby ain't nothin' but mammals, so let's do it like they do on the Discovery
Channel". Eldredge himself declines to draw ethical lessons from evolution, whether ruthlessness or "Christianlike harmony", calling instead for "A plague on
both your houses". In this I think he goes too far.
     Eldredge is concerned above all, about the dire effects of creationism on science teaching from kindergarten to university. It makes no
difference whether this comes about through legislation forcing creationism onto a school syllabus or interventions by college students who have been drilled
by their churches to reject evolution. This not solely an American issue either. Young Earth teachers litter schools and universities in Britain
too, and represent an increasing proportion of clergy.
     Don't be put off when you first set eyes on this book. The dust jacket makes it look like supermarket economy packaging.
You'll find a lively readers' discussion on this topic on our website at www.newscientist.com/forums/creationism/creationism.html