List of fallacious creationist quotes

Many creationists quote the statements of others to lend a veneer of authority to their own work. This is a legitimate strategy, if used correctly. Unfortunately, creationists often quote-mine scientists, misrepresent the authority of a source, or quote vastly outdated texts, which create fallacious appeals to authority.

Many of the quotes come from the Watchtower publication Life — How Did It Get Here? By Evolution or by Creation?, hereafter Life, and from the Watchtower publication Is There a Creator Who Cares About You?, hereafter Creator.

Attenborough, David
David Attenborough (1926-)

Life on Earth
Attenborough, David (1979). Life on Earth. Little, Brown and Company. Boston.

Bird migration
Fallacy: Quote mining

Life cites bird migration as evidence that evolution cannot explain instinct and quotes Attenborough:

Contrary to the conclusion of Life, Attenborough does in fact have an answer to the question. Note also that Attenborough does not present the question as a criticism of evolution. This sort of thing should form a familiar pattern in the quotes below.

Disqualifying lungfish and coelacanths
Fallacy: Quote mining

In an attempt to demonstrate that there are no intermediates between fish and amphibians, Life quotes Attenborough:

Life would love for you not to notice that other fish that was an ancestor to amphibians.

Darwinism on the verge of collapse
Fallacies: non-expert authority, non-consensus authority

In support of the claim that scientists doubt evolution, Life states:

Harper's is a general-interest magazine. Bethell is a journalist reporting on fringe science and also a global warming denialist, AIDS denialist, and intelligent design advocate, and his ideas do not represent the scientific consensus.

Stephen Jay Gould refuted Bethell's argument that Darwin erred, confirming that "Darwinism is alive and thriving, despite Bethell's obituary."

Bounoure, Louis
Loius Bounoure (1926-)

The Advocate
The Advocate, Thursday 8 March 1984, p. 17.

Evolution is a fairy tale
Fallacy: Quote mining

"Evolutionism is a fairy tale for grown-ups. This theory has helped nothing in the progress of science. It is useless."

This quote has been used by Ray Comfort (twice ), by other anti-evolution writers, and generally reprinted.

It has also been previously covered, in great depth, by Talk.Origins. For a start, the first sentence wasn't by Bounoure at all, but by someone else altogether.

Early theories of human evolution
Fallacies: non-expert authority, outdated authority

After posing the question of whether it was the fossil evidence that encouraged Darwin to formulate his theory "that humans evolved from apelike creatures," Life presents:

In reality Darwin's only comment on human evolution was his prediction, "Light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history." Since Darwin did not articulate his ideas on human evolution, the quote is not a criticism of such a theory.

Also note the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is a magazine primarily concerned with informing the public about the threat of nuclear weapons.

Finally, the relevance of the quote, regardless of its truth or falsity, is outdated. The modern synthesis of evolution and modern theories of common descent are supported by fossil records as well as numerous other pathways.

Calbreath, Donald
Professor.

"The Editor's Page"
Calbreath, Donald. "The Editor's Page". American Laboratory.

American Laboratory on the teaching of evolution
Fallacies: biased authority, non-consensus authority

On the teaching of evolution Life states:

The source for this quote is by Calbreath, a signatory of the Discovery Institute's anti-evolution statement. The quote is contrary to statements made by the National Center for Science Education and other scientific organizations.

Fossil record disagrees with evolution
Fallacy: biased authority

Concluding a chapter titled "Letting the Fossil Record Speak," Life states:

The source for the quote is identified as Liberty magazine, a Seventh-day Adventist Church publication. Harold Coffin was a researcher for the Geoscience Research Institute and a witness for the defense in the State of Arkansas' bid to allow the teaching of creation science in school. His ideas do not represent the scientific consensus.

Life again quotes Coffin to support its claim that Cambrian organisms lacked ancestors:

Darwin, Charles
Charles Darwin (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882)

Origin of Species
Darwin, Charles. On the Origin of Species. November, 1859.

The eye and natural selection
See the main article.

The fossil record and transitional forms
Fallacy: quotemining

Existence of the creator
Fallacy: quotemining

To support its claim that the cause of life's origin has yet to be determined, Life quotes Darwin:

In this context it is obvious that Darwin is not concerned about the origin of life but is speaking of the subsequent evolution of life. This is not mentioned by Life.

Instinct can't evolve
Fallacy: quotemining

To further support their claim that evolution cannot explain instinct, Life quotes Darwin yet again:

In other words, Darwin didn't care who made the first or life or the first instinct; he set out to explain the evolution of those things (i.e., how they developed after they came into existence).

Dawkins, Richard
Richard Dawkins, biologist.

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, 18 April 2008.

Signature of a designer
Fallacy: straw man

Dawkins, in response to what is essentially "if intelligent design is true, what could it explain", noted that the panspermia theory exists:

The fuller context is as follows:

Creationists frequently misrepresent this as Dawkins supporting intelligent design. For example:

Dawkins is not saying that the panspermia theory is true or that life shows evidence of design by non-Darwinian forces. (Almost every single one of the books he has published seeks to prove that evolution itself can make things appear to have design.) Instead, he is saying that, if there was evidence of intelligent design, then he would consider the panspermia theory to be more likely than creationism.

Unknown
Scientific American, September 1978, p. 75.

Inconvenient facts
Fallacy: quote mining

In a section that attempts to demonstrate the unlikelihood that the genetic code could have arisen by chance, Life presents:

In this context, the quote is made to appear as if it were suggesting that evidence previously presented against abiogenesis should be ignored. However, examination of the quote itself indicates that Richard Dickerson does not believe the facts exist, and therefore they cannot be considered.

Horseshoe crab virtually unchanged
Fallacy: non sequitur

To support its claim that the ancestors of extant organisms "were much like their living counterparts," Life quotes Discover magazine:

Note that "virtually" unchanged does not mean the same as completely and absolutely unchanged. Further, the theory of evolution predicts that organisms can change but not that they must. This quote is not actually a criticism of evolution.

Heredity and the Nature of Man
Dobzhansky, Theodosius (1964). Heredity and the Nature of Man. Harcourt, Brace & Jovanovich, Inc. New York, New York.

Poking a stick into one's radio set
Fallacy: quotemining

To support its claim that mutations cannot be beneficial, Life quotes Theodosius Dobzhansky from Heredity and the Nature of Man:

Contrary to the implication of Life, then, Dobzhansky does believe that mutations can be beneficial, and he explains the circumstances under which this can happen.

Human Destiny
du Noüy, Pierre. Human Destiny. 1947.

Warm-blooded birds from cold-blooded dinosaurs
Fallacy: outdated authority

To support its claim that birds did not evolve from reptiles, Life presents:

The source for this quote is biophysicist du Noüy's Human Destiny, 1947. However, the idea that dinosaurs were warm-blooded has been seriously considered since at least 1968, making the quote outdated even at the printing of Life in 1985.

The Secret of Life
The Immense Journey--The Secret of Life

Mythology of science
To support its claim that the theory of abiogenesis cannot be considered a fact, Life quotes anthropologist Loren Eiesely:

Eiseley appears to be saying not that origin of life theories are unscientific but rather that life will not be explained by inspecting living things with our current level of technology.

Quoted in Rensberger's article
See here.

Pattern in the fossil record
Fallacy: quotemining

To further support the claim that the fossil record does not support evolution, Life notes:

Despite the implication by Life, the article explains that Eldredge (and Gould) did in fact see a pattern left in the fossil record:

Homo erectus limb bones
Fallacies: outdated authority

To reference the claim that Homo erectus is identical to Homo sapiens, Life cites the 1976 Encyclopædia Britannica:

Note that Life does not mention known differences between the species, primarily that Homo erectus was more robust than Homo sapiens. It has been suggested that the reason Life did not instead quote the 1984 Encyclopedia Britannica was that that edition no longer supports the claim that the species are identical. That edition states in place of the quoted passage that:

Regardless of any intent to deceive, the updated information makes the quote outdated.

"A scientific journal" on radioactive decay
Fallacices: non-consensus authority, biased authority, appeal to authority (misleading attribution)

To support its claim that "some scientists" doubt radioactive dating methods, Life reports:

The "scientific journal" quoted is in fact Popular Science, and the ideas expressed were not even those of the author but of one Robert Gentry. In the original context the beginning of the first sentence, which was left off, reads, "Physicist Gentry believes that all of the dates...." Gentry is a Seventh-day Adventist and a young Earth creationist; his ideas do not represent the scientific consensus.

"The Tortoise or the Hare?"
James Gorman, "The Tortoise or the Hare?," Discover, p. 88, October, 1980.

Evolution questioned by scientists
Fallacy: (egregious) quotemining

To support its claim that scientists doubt evolution, Life quotes journalist James Gorman's "The Tortoise or the Hare?":

Again Life makes disagreement about the speed of evolution appear as if it were doubt about the historical fact of evolution.

Gould, Stephen
Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002)

See also Talk Origins' page on the Quote Mine Project for Gould, Eldredge, and Punctuated Equilibria.

A View of Life
See A View of Life, below.

"Evolution as Fact and Theory"
Discover, May 1981.

Change spread at random
Gould, like Raup, does not suggest that random changes cause evolution but rather cautions against discounting genetic drift as one of the factors contributing to a species' evolutionary state.

"The Return of Hopeful Monsters"
Stephen J. Gould, "The Return of Hopeful Monsters", Natural History 86:22 (1977).

Evidence of evolutionary change
Creationists often incorrectly quote Gould as saying that there is little or no evidence of evolutionary change in the fossil record with the following:

The Mismeasure of Man
Gould, Stephen. The Mismeasure of Man

No change in human brain size
Fallacies: major non sequitur, quotemining (not author's intent)

To support its assertion that man appeared suddenly in the fossil record, Life presents:

Note that the quote does not in fact support the claim that man appeared suddenly in the fossil record. Additionally, given the short time interval of 50,000 years and that evolution does not predict that organisms must change, the quote is not actually a criticism of evolution. Given Gould's reputation as a supporter of evolution, it does not make sense to suggest that he would make a statement intended to provide evidence against evolution.

No intermediate fossils
Fallacies: non-consensus authority, biased authority

In a section titled "Life Appears Suddenly" Life quotes biochemist Gower:

David Gower is a self-proclaimed creationist and member of creationist organizations, and his ideas do not represent the scientific consensus.

Ramapithecus
Fallacies: quote mining, non-expert authority

In its attempt to build a case that humans did not evolve from "ape-men," Life presents as evidence this short quote, which it attributes in context only to New Science magazine:

New Scientist is a popular magazine and not a peer-reviewed journal. The article, Jive Talking, was written by John Gribbin, an astrophysicist as admitted by Life in a subsequent unrelated quote (p. 126). Without doubting his knowledge of astrophysics, it is unclear why Gribbin should be considered an expert on human origins.

Heribert-Nilsson, Nils
Nils Heribert-Nilsson, geneticist and author.

The Synthetic Origin of Species
Heribert-Nilsson, Nils. The Synthetic Origin of Species. 1953.

No transitional series
Fallacy: non-expert authority, non-consensus authority

Life quotes Heribert-Nilsson:

Heribert-Nilsson's hypothesis of synthetic speciation has been refuted, his cosmic ice theory has not been well received by the scientific community, and his ideas have been criticized by geneticist G. Ledyard Stebbins and do not represent the scientific consensus.

Hitching, Francis
Francis Hitching (1933-). Television writer and sensationalist author. Hitching is inarguably the most important source for Life. He is not a scientist and cannot be considered an authority on evolution.

The Neck of the Giraffe
The Neck of the Giraffe or Where Darwin Went Wrong (1982) attacks natural selection and gradualism and ends up embracing an extreme form of evolutionary

Three crucial areas
Fallacies: quotemining, non-expert authority

To stress the shortcomings of evolution, Life quotes Hitching:

Hitching goes on to identify these areas as the fossil record, genes, and mutations. In the original source, however, Hitching states "Darwinism" where Life uses "the modern evolution theory" in brackets. By this replacement Life makes it appear as if Hitching doubts the fact of evolution when actually he only doubts Darwin's explanation for its cause. Instead, Hitching prefers a form of saltationism.

Darwinism in trouble
Fallacies: non-expert authority

To demonstrate that scientists doubt evolution, Life quotes Hitching:

Hitching is not a scientist and cannot be considered an authority on evolution. Hitching further does not doubt that evolution is true, but proposes an alternate method of evolution.

Fossil residues mean no foundation of evolutionary theory
Fallacy: non-expert authority, non-consensus authority

To bolster its claim that life could not have originated by chance, Life offers:

As stated in the quote, Hoyle and Wickramasinghe are astronomers and should not be considered experts on abiogenesis. They are critical of evolution, promoting instead panspermia, and their ideas do not represent the scientific consensus. Besides which, panspermia doesn't replace evolution or abiogenesis, but merely pushes back the question of where life arose—and it's indisputable that wherever life began, it has evolved here on Earth since then. These fellows are quoted many times in Life.

Jastrow, Robert
Life quote mines from a piece of legitimate science by a guy who later became better known for palling around with Frederick Seitz and and supporting the George C. Marshall Institute and climate change denial. Not to mention that Jastrow seemed to have been partial to some kind of vague supernatural force being involved in the origins of planetary bodies and life if the snippet of a 1982 interview with Christianity Today cited at Wikipedia is to be taken at face value and is not another quote mine. However, considering that creationists typically come from the branches of Christianity most intent on quote mining their own holy book, this probably shouldn't come as a surprise.

Red Giants and White Dwarfs
(1979). Red Giants and White Dwarfs. Warner Books, Inc. New York, New York.

Blank pages in earth's history
Life begins a section titled "Life Appears Suddenly" with a quote from cosmologist Robert Jastrow:

Contrary to the implication by Life, Jastrow is not talking about the record of life's origin being wiped out but rather the Earth's geological record. This is evidenced by his solution of looking to the moon, on which life obviously did not develop.

Initial steps
Life heavily quotemines Robert Jastrow in a panel titled "What the Fossil Evidence Says...about the Origin of Living Things":

In context the quote offers an explanation for why there is no fossil evidence of the origin of life.

The Enchanted Loom: Mind in the Universe
Jastrow, Robert. The Enchanted Loom: Mind in the Universe. 1981. p. 23.

Appearance of many-celled creatures
To support its claim that life appeared suddenly, Life quotes astronomer Robert Jastrow:

Life indicates that the quote refers to the sudden appearance of living things at "the start of what is called the Cambrian period." However, since the Cambrian period began about 542 million years ago, this leaves unexplained what progress was made since the "billion years ago" that Jastrow mentioned. Additionally, it is difficult to see how "invisible progress" and "very little" besides "bacteria and one-celled plants" can be interpreted as indicating that there was no life at all before this time. The quote fails to support the claim that life appeared suddenly and is not actually a criticism of evolution.

Lucy: The Beginnings of Humankind
Johanson, Donald; Edey, Maitland (1981). Lucy: The Beginnings of Humankind. Simon and Schuster. New York.

Austalopithecines were not men
In its effort to demonstrate that Australopithecus was "simply an 'ape'" Life quotes paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson:

Johanson obviously believes that, although they were not human, the australopithecines were far from being mere apes, and nobody reading this quote in context could conclude otherwise, unless they had zero clue what the word hominid means.

Kemp, Tom
Tom Kemp. Science writer, New Scientist.

Book review of The New Evolutionary Timetable
New Scientist.

Fossil species not connected
Fallacies: non-expert authority, non-consensus authority, quotemining (not author intent), non sequitur

To support the claim that there are no examples of transitional species in the fossil record, Life quotes New Scientist magazine:

This quote is from science writer Tom Kemp.

Also note the observations that fossil species are "rarely" connected and "appear" not to evolve do not in fact support the claim that these events never occur. As such this quote is not actually a criticism of evolution.

King, James
James C. King.

The Biology of Race
King, James. The Biology of Race

What we don't know about prehistoric men
Fallacies: non sequitur

In support of its assertion that "ape-men" did not exist, Life indicates that we have no idea what they looked like and quotes King:

It should be obvious that human precursors' placements in the evolutionary tree are not based on their external features, and therefore this is not actually a criticism of evolution.

Origins
E. P. Dutton. New York, 1977.

Descendants of the australopithecines
As further evidence that Australopithecus was not ancestral to humans, Life quotes anthropologist Richard Leakey from Origins. Leakey is referring to "skull 1470," which he believed to be a Homo habilis skull.

The actual quote from Origins, then, indicates the authors' belief that although humans did not evolve directly from Australopithecus, we did evolve from a common ancestor.

It should be noted that since the writing of Origins, skull 1470 has been determined to be a member of the species Homo rudolfensis and to be more recent than original estimates, thus making it more likely that Australopithecus is in fact our ancestor.

Lewontin, Richard
(29 March 1929-)

"Adaptation"
Scientific American, September 1978

Artful design
Fallacies: outdated authority, appeal to authority (misleading attribution)

To further support the design claim, Life quotes evolutionary biologist Richard Lewontin:

Lewontin then is not explaining his own views, as stated by Life, but rather the outdated views that Darwin had to overcome. It is likely that Life borrowed this quote from sensationalist author J. Francis Hitching, as it is presented similarly in his book:

Hitching in turn appears to have borrowed the quote from the Institute for Creation Research's Impact newsletter from October 1980:

Lewontin was not happy about being misquoted by Impact and had issued a statement to this effect in Creation/Evolution magazine in 1981.

"The Self-Reproducing Inflationary Universe"
Linde, Andrei. Scientific American. November 1994.

Science cannot explain the origin of the universe
Fallacy: quotemining

To support the claim that scientists cannot explain the origin of the universe, Creator quotes an article titled "The Self-Reproducing Inflationary Universe":

Contrary to the implication by Creator, the point of the article is that Linde's theory does in fact help explain the origin of the universe.

A View of Life
A View of Life. Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Company, Inc. Menlo Park, CA, 1981.

Evolution as a fact
To further advance the claim that scientists doubt evolution, Life quotes a college level textbook:

It should be noted that contrary to the last sentence, predictions of evolution have been tested. Life is confusing the historical fact of evolution with theories about its causes. In fact gravity and evolution are similar theories in that in both cases the fact of their existence is not doubted although their causes are not completely understood.

Later, in Life:

Inability to explain the fossil record
Contrary to the claim made by Life paleontologists are able to explain trends in the fossil record. It is inconceivable that the authors of Life could have read this paragraph in the original context and misinterpreted its meaning.

No Precambrian fossils
To further support its claim that life appeared suddenly in the Cambrian period, Life presents two explanations for a perceived lack of precursor fossils, following them up with this incomplete quotation:

While Life suggests that paleontologists have no explanation for the Cambrian explosion at all, the full quotation clearly contradicts this.

Migration
In a section that attempts to demonstrate that the instinct of migration cannot be inherited, Life manages to completely reverse the meaning of a quotation on evolution.

Thus the original authors intended that the quote support the claim that instinct is hereditary, which is the opposite of how Life used it.

Also note that the word "usually" was left out of the quote. In fact, in the original context the next sentence is, "But there are many exceptions to this generalization," and the example of the gill withdrawal reflex in the Aplysia snail is cited.

Macbeth, Norman
Norman Macbeth. Attorney.

Darwin Retried
Darwin Retried (1971) was a book written by a Harvard-trained lawyer Norman Macbeth. The book criticised the Darwinian mechanisms of evolution such as natural selection and sexual selection.

Goldschmidt on mutations
Fallacies: non-expert authority, non-consensus authority, appeal to authority (misleading attribution)

To advance the claim that mutations cannot be the mechanism of evolution, Life states:

Note that this is not a quote from Richard Goldschmidt but is merely Macbeth's interpretation of Goldschmidt's work.

Further, Goldschmidt was the leading proponent of the "hopeful monsters" hypothesis, which suggests macro-mutation as the mechanism for evolution. Most scientists have rejected the views of Goldschmidt on evolution.

Moore, John
John N. Moore

Moore on no transitional forms
Fallacies: non-expert authority, biased authority, appeal to authority (misleading attribution)

To support its claim of the nonexistence of transitional fossils, Life states:

Note that this quote is not a statement made by the mentioned organizations but rather is an interpretation of their findings by Moore. Moore was a founding member of the Creation Research Society. Moore's ideas do not represent the scientific consensus and should not be presented as such.

Evolutionary mutations a myth
Fallacies: appeal to authority (non-expert source), biased authority

Life similarly presents Moore as an expert in a chapter titled "Mutations--A Basis for Evolution?":

Lack of evidence for evolution
Fallacies: non-expert authority, biased authority

Life states:

Muggeridge is a journalist and (apparently rather enthusiastic) Christian convert. It is unclear why his opinion within a book review should be considered authoritative in any field of science.

New Scientist
New Scientist magazine.

"Let there be life"
New Scientist. "Let there be life." Jul. 6, 1996.

DNA, RNA, and protein arising simultaneously
To support the claim that life is too complicated to have arisen by chance, Creator quotes New Scientist:

Of course Creator conveniently ignores that the article in New Scientist then goes on to present a solution to the problem:

RNA replication
Creator further notes:

Although it is not mentioned by Creator, the article reports on biochemist Jack Szostak's efforts to demonstrate that RNA molecules could in fact replicate themselves:

RNA world theory fatally flawed
Creator further notes:

Although it is not mentioned by Creator, the article details a hypothetical biochemical energy "machine":

"Darwinism at the very beginning of life"
New Scientist, volume 94 number 1301, April 1982.

Cell membranes
Unlike Life, Orgel is merely suggesting that membranes evolved after various metabolic processes.

Popper, Karl
Karl Popper (28 July 1902 – 17 September 1994)

Unended Quest
1976 (2002). Routledge: London and New York. ISBN 0-415-28590-9

"Sermons in Stones"
Pratt, Wallace. "Sermons in Stones". 1928.

Geology agrees with Genesis
Fallacies: outdated authority, biased authority

As the sole piece of evidence advancing their claim that the findings of scientists agree with the biblical order of events, Life presents in a panel:

It should first be noted that science does not in fact agree with the order of events in Genesis. In some cases too little is known about the formation of the Earth for science to say, and in some cases science obviously disagrees.

The source of the quote is identified as The Lamp, "The Worlds of Wallace Pratt," 1971, by W. L. Copithorne. In fact Pratt originally made the statement in a piece titled "Sermons in Stones" in 1928, making it one of the oldest quotes in Life and way out of date.

The Lamp goes on to state:

It has been suggested that this is evidence Pratt was a six-literal-day creationist. In any event his ideas do not represent the scientific consensus.

"Ancestors: A Family Album"
B. Rensberger, "Ancestors: A Family Album," Science Digest, April 1981.

Artists' conceptions of ape-men
To support its claim that humans did not evolve from apelike ancestors, Life notes that paleontologists do not know what "ape-men" looked like. Life (among others  ) quotes Rensberger:

The article goes on to explain how artists attempt to accurately reconstruct prehistoric hominids and their fat pads and skin, although this is not mentioned by Life. While specific parts of the body (such as the flesh of the nose) are guesswork, they aren't out of the blue. Also note that paleontologists do not base evolutionary relationships on artists' conceptions of hominids; the quote does not provide evidence against evolution.

"Recent Studies Spark Revolution in Interpretation of Evolution"
Boyce Rensberger. "Recent Studies Spark Revolution in Interpretation of Evolution." The New York Times. November 4, 1980. p. C3

Broadest change in evolutionary theory in 50 years
In an effort to demonstrate that there is disagreement among scientists about the fact of evolution, Life quotes an article in The Enterprise, Riverside, California, by Boyce Rensberger, November 14, 1980:

The same article apparently ran in The New York Times on November 4, 1980. The first part of the quote should read:

The article then does not indicate that the fact of evolution is in doubt, as implied by Life, but rather "how evolution works." In fact, immediately after the third sentence, the article states:

This part was not quoted by Life because it did not advance the author's argument.

"Conflicts between Darwin and Paleontology"
Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin, January 1979.

Importance of fossils to Darwin's theory
To demonstrate that scientists see the fossil record as evidence against evolution, Life explains:

Note that Life's premise of the completeness of the fossil record is false, and this incompleteness is also addressed by Raup in the quoted work.

Darwin vs. paleontology
Thus Raup does not concede that there are no fossil transitions, as implied by Life, but that they are rare.

Again Raup is not expressing doubt about the historical fact of evolution, as stated by Life, but about natural selection as the sole cause of evolution.

Additionally, Raup's suggestion that "classic cases of darwinian change in the fossil record" be discarded appears on page 20 of Life as the caption under depictions of Eohippus, Archaeopteryx, and lungfish, although Raup never mentioned Archaeopteryx or lungfish in the article.

Chance as an alternative to natural selection
To support its claim that evolution does not provide life with a required designer, Life presents this bit:

Raup goes on to cite the example of the handedness of a shell spiral. Raup then is not suggesting that all of evolution is driven by chance, as implied by Life, but that chance can dictate the direction of some features that are not essential to survival.

Ridley, Mark
Mark Ridley (8 September, 1956-)

Who Doubts Evolution?
New Scientist, vol. 90, 25 June 1981.

Ruse, Michael
Michael Ruse, evolutionary biology

Is Evolution a Secular Religion?
Ruse, Michael. "Is evolution a secular religion?" Science 299.5612 (2003): 1523-1524.

Evolution is a religion
See main page.

Sagan, Carl
Carl Sagan (1934-1996)

Cosmos
Sagan, Carl (1980). Cosmos. Random House, Inc. New York.

Great Designer
Fallacy: Quotemine

Life concludes its analysis of the fossil record with a quote from astronomer Carl Sagan, leaving the reader with the definite impression that Sagan believes the fossil record to provide evidence for creation.

Considering its context, the quote obviously was not intended to provide evidence for creation, and it is unfair of Life to portray it as such.

Stanley, Steven
Steven M. Stanley

Macroevolution: Pattern and Process
Macroevolution: Pattern and Process, 1979.

Fossil record has no morphological transitions
Fallacy: Quotemine

Stevens' quote here has been misappropriated frequently. ICR writes:

The full quote is as follows:

This is a clear quotemine -- Stevens is arguing against gradualism (as can be seen by the latter part of the sentence, which creationists omitted), not against evolution. In fact, on page 26, Stevens argues for a "quantum evolution":

The New Evolutionary Timetable
The New Evolutionary Timetable. Basic Books, Inc. New York, 1981.

Inadequacy of fossil record
In an effort to advance its claim that the fossil record provides evidence against evolution, the Jehovah's Witnesses' publication Life--How did it get here? By evolution or by creation?, hereinafter referred to as Life, notes:

In fact Stanley is explaining Ernest Mayr's modern punctuational view of evolution. Although Stanley does speak of inadequacies of the fossil record, he offers an explanation as well as noting its strong points. This is not mentioned by Life.

Life continues quoting Stanley:

Surprising things in the fossil record
Fallacy: Quotemine

To further support the claim that the fossil record provides evidence against evolution, Life presents:

Thus Life has taken the quote out of context and assigned it a meaning that was not intended by the original author by misidentifying his "surprising things" with what they wanted to promote.

What happened to the bowfin fishes
In a list of quotes apparently intended to demonstrate that fish have not evolved, the anti-science "Evolution Encyclopedia" quotes Stanley:

In the original context Stanley proposes a "thought experiment." He suggests that, concerning phylogenies with historically few species, if a gradualist model of evolution is correct then one would expect to see great change over the lifetime of the lineage. If on the other hand evolution occurs by speciation (punctualist model) then one would expect to see little change. Thus, he is not decrying evolution but arguing for his preferred model of it.

Species not evolving much
To support its claim that life appeared suddenly, Life presents:

The omitted sentence then offers Stanley's explanation for the phenomena of sudden appearance and stasis of which Life is critical. Note also that the quote clearly states species do in fact evolve.

Horses appearing suddenly
In a marginal gloss in a section titled "What About the Horse?" Life quotes The New Evolutionary Timetable:

Note that Stanley believes the modern horse did evolve from a precursor species and further he presents an explanation for their sudden appearance, neither of which is mentioned in the quote by Life.

Life also notes:

Note how Life has rearranged Stanley's words to make it look as if he is saying that Eohippus was not the ancestor of the modern horse. In reality he is merely explaining that horse evolution, once thought to be gradual, is now viewed as having long periods of stability.

Human descent from an apelike form
To support its claim that the fossil record does not provide information about human origin, Life presents:

Stanley is merely noting that human evolution is complex.

Australopithecus brain capacity
To support its claim that Australopithecus also could not be an ancestor of modern humans, Life again quotes The New Evolutionary Timetable:

These similarities indicated by Stanley are not mentioned by Life, as they do not support the argument that the author is trying to advance.

Abiogenesis as an article of faith
Fallacy: outdated authority

Life quotes science writer J. W. N. Sullivan in a panel in a chapter titled "Could life originate by chance?":

This statement was made in 1933, and, even as of Life's publication date of 1985, much progress had been made on theories of abiogenesis.

On Growth and Form
Thompson, D'Arcy. On Growth and Form. 1942. Cambridge University Press: London, Second Edition, 1952, reprint, Vol. II.

Seeking for stepping-stones
To further support its claim that the fossil record does not provide evidence of evolution, Life presents:

Thompson then does not mean for the "gaps" to refer to deficiencies in the fossil record, as it is made to appear by Life, but rather to the steps between "types." Note also that Thompson does not necessarily regard the gaps between types to be evidence against evolution. In this same work he explains:

In essence, he argues for a structuralist perspective on evolution.

Twidale, Charles
Charles Twidale

On the survival of paleoforms
American Journal of Science, vol. 276, 1 January 1976, pp. 77–95

von Braun, Wernher
Nazi rocket engineer whose major achievement (before working on the US space program) was his construction of V1 and V2 rockets for the Third Reich.

Origin of laws of the universe
To advance the anthropic principle, Life quotes von Braun:

It is unclear why von Braun, as a consumer of the physical laws, should be an authority on their origin. Additionally, the source of this quote is identified per Life to be the National Enquirer, which is not considered a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

"The Editorial Notebook; How Old Is Man?"
Wade, Nicholas. The Editorial Notebook; How Old Is Man? The New York Times. October 4, 1982.

Known human fossils fit on a billiard table
Fallacies: quotemining, non-expert authority

To strengthen its claim of the scarcity of human fossils, Life quotes The New York Times:

Contrary to this statement, paleoanthropologist Ian Tattersall, PhD, notes there have been a "huge number" of recent human fossil finds. Notwithstanding the truth of the quoted statement at the time it was made, it is in fact merely the opinion of science writer Nicholas Wade.

Although the meaning of the statement likely does not differ significantly from that intended by the original author, the statement from The New York Times is also quoted out of context. It should read:

Note that the quote in Life is presented without mention of the Laetoli footprints and without ellipses, as if the thought started with "the known fossil remains"—Life even improperly capitalized it as if to hide that something came before.

"The Origin of Life"
Wald, George. "The Origin of Life". Scientific American, August 1954, p. 44-53.

Spontaneous dissolution/synthesis
To help support its claim that life could not develop spontaneously, Life presents:

Wald then does not find the problem to be as hopeless as Life would have us believe, which of course Life neglects to mention.

Zuckerman, Solly
Lord Solly Zuckerman. Anatomist.

Australopithecine skull
Fallacies: outdated authority

To further support its position that Australopithecus was an ape and not a human ancestor, Life quotes Zuckerman:

The source for the quote is identified as the Journal of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, January, 1966. Thus Zuckerman made this observation before significant Australopithecine discoveries such as the "Lucy" skeleton found in 1974.

Furthermore, Zuckerman's claim had been successfully refuted long before Lucy.

Quotes about quotes
Theodosius Dobzhansky, "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.", 1973

Richard Lewontin, "Adaptation," Scientific American, 1978 :

Stephen Jay Gould, "Evolution as Fact and Theory," Discover, May 1981:

Popular books to quote

 * The New Evolution: Zoogenesis (1930) by American zoologist Advocates a form of


 * (1985) written by Australian biochemist Michael Denton.


 * Great Evolution Mystery (1984) written by British journalist The book advocates orthogenesis and other non-Darwinian evolutionary mechanisms.


 * Evolution of Living Organisms (1977) written by French zoologist Grassé was a critic of the  and instead advocated


 * A New Science of Life (1981) by British biochemist Rupert Sheldrake advocates a non-genetic account of


 * The Facts of Life: Shattering the Myth of Darwinism (1993) by British journalist Richard Milton. The books rejects mutation and natural selection as evolutionary mechanisms and advocates vitalism and -type mechanisms.


 * (1995) by Australian philosopher Attacks natural selection and criticises the Darwinian view of evolution as an explanation for sociobiological behavior such as altruism.


 * Astrobiology: The Origins of Life and the Death of Darwinism (2001) by neuropsychologist Rhawn Joseph. Advocates panspermia and "pre-determined evolutionary metamorphosis".


 * LifeCode: The Theory of Biological Self Organization (2004) written by American chemist Stuart Pivar. Rejects natural selection as an evolutionary mechanism and advocates


 * Why Us?: How Science Rediscovered the Mystery of Ourselves (2009) by medical journalist James Le Fanu. Rejects materialism and also attacks the Darwinian mechanisms of evolution.


 * What Darwin Got Wrong (2010) by philosopher Jerry Fodor and cognitive scientist Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini. Criticism of natural selection.


 * Mind and Cosmos: Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature Is Almost Certainly False (2012) written by philosopher Thomas Nagel. Claims the Darwinian mechanisms of evolution fail to explain consciousness and that materialism is false.