"National Geographic (NG) is a respected popular science magazine with millions of subscribers. So it is unfortunate when they use that platform to promote anti-creation propaganda under the guise of science. The cover of the March 2015 issue is “The War on Science”, and the featured article by science writer Joel Achenbach, “The age of disbelief”, intends to explain why so many people doubt the scientific establishment on a range of issues—from global warming to vaccines ....And, of course, no ‘war on science’ article would be complete without a reference to creationists. But rather than shed light on these controversies, NG has only managed to spread more confusion.
When we analyze NG’s claim that there is a war on science, first we have to understand what they understand science to be. And they turn out to be a little confused about what science is and what it does. On one hand, they say, “Scientific results are always provisional, susceptible to being overturned by some future experiment or observation. Scientists rarely proclaim an absolute truth or absolute certainty” (41). But they also say, “Science will find the truth … It may get it wrong the first time and maybe the second time, but ultimately it will find the truth” (41). So which is it—provisional statement or truth?
Also, how does science arrive at the truth? Achenbach states: “The news media give abundant attention to such mavericks, naysayers, professional controversialists, and table thumpers. The media would have you believe that science is full of shocking discoveries made by lone geniuses. Not so. The (boring) truth is that it usually advances incrementally, through the steady accretion of data and insights gathered by many people over many years” (41). Well, it often does. But there are plenty of instances where it did not. The same article also features the stories of Galileo, Darwin, and Pasteur, all of whom were “lone geniuses” opposing the scientific consensus. So which narrative does NG want us to believe?
The full range of ‘attacks on science’ cited by NG includes: opposing the fluoridation of water, disbelief in the Apollo moon landings, belief in a flat earth (which the church never taught), distrust of genetically modified food and vaccines, concern that the Ebola virus might become airborne, opposition to climate change, and creationism.
But this is a guilt-by-association ploy. People hold such views for a variety of reasons, so each issue should be evaluated on the merits, not lumped all together as though every creationist also denies that the earth is a sphere. We don’t.
In fact, Achenbach commits the fallacy C.S. Lewis called Bulverism—devoting all kinds of space to explaining why your opponent is wrong (through superficial psycho-analysis) before you’ve shown that he is wrong. Achenbach claims that peer pressure, not rational assessment, is the primary driving force behind rejection of the scientific consensus:
More recently, the creationist RATE team and secular scientists both made predictions about how quickly helium trapped in zircon crystals leaks out (i.e. diffusion rate). Helium is produced as a result of uranium decay in the crystals. It turns out that helium escapes the crystals fairly easily, so if they were really 1.5 billion years old, all the helium would have escaped. The actual diffusion measurements completely matched the creationist predictions, and the leak rate actually gave an age of 6000 ± 2000 years—i.e. in the same vicinity as the biblical range!
Geologist Steve Austin’s research on the Mt St Helens disaster shows how large-scale geological features can be formed by catastrophe, including sedimentary layers, canyons, polystrate fossils, and rapid recovery of the landscape. This is completely contrary to evolutionist predictions that such landforms would take millions of years. And Dr Austin predicted that a floating log mat would eventually sink root-first down to the bottom, be buried at different levels, as we find at Specimen Ridge in Yellowstone. The initial stages of this process have been observed at Mt St Helens as well.
No one is really at war with science, but there is a very real war within science. Evolution is the ruling paradigm, and the elite within scientific circles are desperate to keep creationists out. This is because, if the world is billions of years old, we evolved from single-celled creatures, and there is no God, then there is no one to whom we’re accountable. If, however, the earth and people were created by the God of the Bible, then we’re accountable to Him, and that is a truth that they do not want to contemplate." CMI
When we analyze NG’s claim that there is a war on science, first we have to understand what they understand science to be. And they turn out to be a little confused about what science is and what it does. On one hand, they say, “Scientific results are always provisional, susceptible to being overturned by some future experiment or observation. Scientists rarely proclaim an absolute truth or absolute certainty” (41). But they also say, “Science will find the truth … It may get it wrong the first time and maybe the second time, but ultimately it will find the truth” (41). So which is it—provisional statement or truth?
Also, how does science arrive at the truth? Achenbach states: “The news media give abundant attention to such mavericks, naysayers, professional controversialists, and table thumpers. The media would have you believe that science is full of shocking discoveries made by lone geniuses. Not so. The (boring) truth is that it usually advances incrementally, through the steady accretion of data and insights gathered by many people over many years” (41). Well, it often does. But there are plenty of instances where it did not. The same article also features the stories of Galileo, Darwin, and Pasteur, all of whom were “lone geniuses” opposing the scientific consensus. So which narrative does NG want us to believe?
But this is a guilt-by-association ploy. People hold such views for a variety of reasons, so each issue should be evaluated on the merits, not lumped all together as though every creationist also denies that the earth is a sphere. We don’t.
In fact, Achenbach commits the fallacy C.S. Lewis called Bulverism—devoting all kinds of space to explaining why your opponent is wrong (through superficial psycho-analysis) before you’ve shown that he is wrong. Achenbach claims that peer pressure, not rational assessment, is the primary driving force behind rejection of the scientific consensus:
Science appeals to our rational brain, but our beliefs are motivated largely by emotion, and the biggest motivation is remaining tight with our peers (45).Achenbach also admits that his arguments against those who oppose the consensus are ineffective. He says, “Throwing more facts at them doesn’t help” (45). But instead of taking this as a cue to find more persuasive arguments, he blames his opponents for not thinking rationally.
More recently, the creationist RATE team and secular scientists both made predictions about how quickly helium trapped in zircon crystals leaks out (i.e. diffusion rate). Helium is produced as a result of uranium decay in the crystals. It turns out that helium escapes the crystals fairly easily, so if they were really 1.5 billion years old, all the helium would have escaped. The actual diffusion measurements completely matched the creationist predictions, and the leak rate actually gave an age of 6000 ± 2000 years—i.e. in the same vicinity as the biblical range!
Geologist Steve Austin’s research on the Mt St Helens disaster shows how large-scale geological features can be formed by catastrophe, including sedimentary layers, canyons, polystrate fossils, and rapid recovery of the landscape. This is completely contrary to evolutionist predictions that such landforms would take millions of years. And Dr Austin predicted that a floating log mat would eventually sink root-first down to the bottom, be buried at different levels, as we find at Specimen Ridge in Yellowstone. The initial stages of this process have been observed at Mt St Helens as well.
No one is really at war with science, but there is a very real war within science. Evolution is the ruling paradigm, and the elite within scientific circles are desperate to keep creationists out. This is because, if the world is billions of years old, we evolved from single-celled creatures, and there is no God, then there is no one to whom we’re accountable. If, however, the earth and people were created by the God of the Bible, then we’re accountable to Him, and that is a truth that they do not want to contemplate." CMI
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
John 1:3,4