by Joe T. Ator, Star Bible Publications,
PO Box 821220, Ft. Worth, Texas, 76182,
2000, 88 pages
Books that attack a position, whether it be secular or religious have marginal use. They are usually written by an author that is so biased that fairness is an impossibility. In the evolution/creation controversy, this has been especially true. We have tried to point out the unfairness in this journal for over 30 years now, but most of the materials written in this area continue to make the same mistakes over and over on both sides of the controversy.
Joe Ator is a physics and astronomy professor. This little book is an attempt to get people to look at the errors being made on both sides of the evolution/creation controversy. It is divided into two chapters and a summary with notes. The first chapter of 40 pages is titled "Faulty Premises in Darwin's Theory." This section points out the factual part of Darwin's work and then discusses the faulty premises and assumptions involved. There are 58 quotes noted, with some of them being quite unique and useful, although some involve familiar authors such as Hugh Ross, Michael Denton, and Gerald Schroeder.
The second chapter takes denominational creationism to task. Ator classifies creationists as either young earth or old earth. Ator points out integrity problems in the young-earth position and classifies himself as an old-age creationist.
The main thrust of this book is a plea for honesty and unity. Ator points out that young-earth creationism is having "the net effect of hindering acceptance of the Bible's valuable religious message." He points out that chance is an unproven and invalid cause to the cosmos and pleas with all believers to unify to oppose the saturation of the public with this view.
This is a useful book with good ideas and useful sources. The greatest weakness of the book is undoubtedly its brevity. Some areas desperately need expansion. In the section titled "Why Do Young-Earth Creationists Hold the View?" for example, no mention is made of the fact that most young-earth views are rooted in millennial teachings that start with a doctrinal position and try to find scientific support for that tradition. (See Ronald Numbers' book The Creationists for more on this.) In the Darwinism section, the support for the author's position is gained from quotes of other scientists but not a scientific demonstration of why those quotations are true. To do all of that would have required a book of several hundred pages. The author's obvious intent was to focus on the general picture. This will make this book very useful to the general public and will help students in science classes. We recommend it for that audience especially.
Back to Contents Does God Exist?, MarApr01.