Are "creationists" the only ones who dispute the validity of "evolution"?

Question

Consider:

Georges Cuvier
Charles Lyell
Louis Aggassiz
Colin Patterson
Pierre Grasse
RH Brady
Douglas Dewar
David Raup
Michael Denton

et al.

Hey, this list was just random. I'm not a "creationist."

Answer 1

The answer is yes. Creationists are the only ones who dispute the validity of evolution.

Even a *little* bit research on the names in that list shows that it includes (a) people who absolutely *are* (or were) creationists; (b) people who absolutely do *not* dispute the validity of evolution, but are miquoted wildly out of context by unethical creationists; (c) people who disputed Darwin's theory of evolution, but *not* the validity of evolution itself; (d) one guy (Cuvier) who lived and wrote long *before* Darwin (in other words, before there was much of a theory of evolution available to dispute).

* Cuvier lived and wrote decades *before* Darwin published Origin of Species.

* Lyell did not dispute evolution. He was a good friend of Darwin's, and in fact the guy who persuaded Darwin to co-publish his research with Wallace. He had some reservations about whether natural selection was enough to explain evolution, but he did not dispute evolution itself.

* Agassiz was a creationist. (Anyone who defined a species as "a thought of God" would certainly qualify.)

* Colin Patterson most certainly does *not* dispute evolution. He is one of the most blatantly misquoted scientists by creationists without a shred of integrity or intellectual honesty.
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/patterson.html

* Pierre Grasse also did not dispute evolution. (The author of a book titled "Evolution of Living Organisms" would hardly be considered as disputing the validity of evolution.) Grasse was a Lamarckian ... believing that evolution occurred by means other than natural selection or mutation ... not that evolution did not occur at all.

* Douglas Dewar not a creationist? Oh, c'mon! He is a founder of the long-age creationism movement.

* David Raup does not dispute the validity of evolution. He is a paleontologist and major contributor to our understanding of the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

* Michael Denton is a creationist. However, here's an article by a creationist writer accusing Denton of now defecting to accept evolution: "Micheal Denton is now an evolutionist":
http://www.edwardtbabinski.us/latest_2003/theory-in-crisis.html

{P.S. ... to emucompboy}

Michael Behe also does not "dispute the validity of evolution" ... he just denies that natural selection explains it.

"For the record, I have no reason to doubt that the universe is the billions of years old that physicists say it is. Further, I find the idea of common descent (that all organisms share a common ancestor) fairly convincing, and have no particular reason to doubt it." (Michael Behe, 'Darwin's Black Box', pg 5)

Answer 2

Georges Cuvier (1769-1832): Died before "Origin of Species"
Charles Lyell (1797-1875): Wasn't fully convinced about natural selection as the driving force. He was not opposed to the idea.
Louis Aggassiz (1807-1873): Supported his own theory of scientific racism
Colin Patterson (): Fully supports evolution, frequently misquoted by Creationists since they don't have facts to support them
Pierre Grasse (1895-1985): Promoted vitalism where the mutations are pre-programmed.
RH Brady (-2003): Philosopher, challenged evolution research as dogmatism.
Douglas Dewar ( -1957): Creationist
David Raup (1933- ): Pointed out minor errors in museum displays of horse evolution; corrected them.
Michael Denton (1943- ): ID proponent (i.e. crytpto-creationist) from the Discovery Institute

Your list is actually, just a Creationists lie. Most of the people had alternate hypotheses on evolution. One pre-dated Darwin's publication. Two are full proponents whose work is deliberately taken out of context. Two are creationists. The Discory Institute is a Creationist organization.

What you have demonstrated, but this is old news, is that Creationists are dishonest.

Answer 3

Random? What did you do then? Flip through a creationist tract? Channel some nutjob's website with a ouija board? Pick tiles out of a scrabble game?

Don't be a sheep. Go look things up. Learn how to think critically.

Answer 4

Isn't someone who disputes the validity of evolution a creationist by definition?

Answer 5

No. There are "intelligent design advocates," such as Michael Behe, too. Behe is wrong -- but his book did make me think. Thinking is not a bad thing. Sometimes we need criticism to keep us on our toes.