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Rumor has it that more than 20 books on creationism/evolution are in the publisher's pipelines. A few have already appeared. The goal of all will be to try to explain to a confused and often unenlightened citizenry that there are not two equally valid scientific theories for the origin and evolution of universe and life. Cosmology, geology, and biology have provided a consistent, unified, and constantly improving account of what happened. "Scientific" creationism, which is being pushed by some for "equal time" in the classrooms whenever the scientific accounts of evolution are given, is based on religion, not science. Virtually all scientists and the majority of non-fundamentalist religious leaders have come to regard "scientific" creationism as bad science and bad religion.
The first four chapters of Kitcher's book give a very brief introduction to evolution. At appropriate places, he introduces the criticisms of the creationists and provides answers. In the last three chapters, he takes off his gloves and gives the creationists a good beating. He describes their programmes and tactics, and, for those unfamiliar with the ways of creationists, the extent of their deception and distortion may come as an unpleasant surprise. When their basic motivation is religious, one might have expected more Christian behavior.
Kitcher is philosopher, and this may account, in part, for the clarity and effectiveness of his arguments. The non-specialist will be able to obtain at least a notion of the sorts of data and argument that support evolutionary theory. The final chapter on the creationists will be extremely clear to all. On the dust jacket of this fine book, Stephen Jay Gould says: "This book stands for reason itself." And so it does — and all would be well were reason the only judge in the creationism/evolution debate.
67. "Creationism" in the passage refers to ________.
[A] evolution in its true sense as to the origin of the universe
[B] a notion of the creation of religion
[C] the scientific explanation of the earth formation
[D] the deceptive theory about the origin of the universe
68. Kitcher's book is intended to ________.
[A] recommend the views of the evolutionists
[B] expose the true features of creationists
[C] curse bitterly at this opponents
[D] launch a surprise attack on creationists
69. From the passage we can infer that ________.
[A] reasoning has played a decisive role in the debate
[B] creationists do not base their argument on reasoning
[C] evolutionary theory is too difficult for non-specialists
[D] creationism is supported by scientific findings
70. This passage appears to be a digest of ________.
[A] a book review
[B] a scientific paper
[C] a magazine feature
[D] a newspaper editorial
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