Creationism - National Center for Science Education

got a Ph.D. for this subject from the California School of Theology, describes himself on
the title page as “Director of Probability Research in Biology, Northridge, California.”
David Coppedge, the group leader, is articulate, witty, and knowledgeable, and is
a very effective speaker, group leader and organizer. He has studied physics and
astronomy at Cal State Northridge, and works in the computer business. He has created
his own multi-media presentation called How Big Is God?, which he presents at church
and religious meetings, and at other Bible-science meetings. Consisting of 500
synchronized slides with music and narration, it dramatically reveals “the Space-Age
glory of the God of galaxies—and the Savior of mankind.” The Coppedges and several
of the lecturers and group members belong to Grace Community Church, John
MacArthur’s super-church in Sun Valley. Coppedge’s Bible-science group carries on the
tradition of natural theology, with many field trips and other outings to appreciate God’s
glory by studying His creation. Coppedge himself organizes and leads hikes, camping
trips, star-gazing trips, various “Creation Safaris,” and other nature-watching expeditions.
The monthly lecturers have included nationally-known creationists such as Walter
Lang (BSA), Nell Segraves (CSRC), George Howe (CRS), Duane Gish and John Morris
(ICR), and many local proponents of creationists and mid-level activists. (Segraves, in
her lecture, told us of several creationist sympathizers in the California department of
education and in the judicial system who have aided the CSRC lobbying efforts.) A book
table at the meetings features several dozen creation-science and related books, plus
sample copies of Bible-Science Newsletter and other creationist literature. The
organization is “dedicated to: special creation, literal Bible interpretation, divine design
and purpose in nature, a young earth, a universal Noachian Flood, Christ as God and
Man, our Savior, [and] Christ-centered scientific research.” Jim Owen, founder of the
Christian Wilderness Association, spoke about Christian environmentalism and biblical
“stewardship” of nature by man. (This presentation occasioned the only real
disagreement I have seen in any of these meetings. Some audience members argued that
nature was created by God for man to exploit—biblical “dominion over nature”—and
they were suspicious of any attempt to thwart this exploitation. They also argued that
animals don’t have souls, so there is nothing wrong with killing them for our use.) A
computer and aerospace engineer spoke about Halley’s Comet, and presented the
creationist argument that the short-term comets indicate a young age for the universe. A
Los Angeles audiologist lectured on design in the human ear. Art Battson of Students for
Origins Research spoke about natural selection.
One active member of the group, a graduate student in paleoanthropology who is
writing a creationist anthropology book under the pseudonym Phil Davidson, has spoken
about dinosaurs and the Bible, and has presented his creationist interpretation of human
races. His book, The Origin of the Human Races: A Creation Perspective, tentatively to
be published by ICR’s Master Books, fully accepts “microevolution”—that is, adaptation
to regional and environmental conditions, but says that the originally created human pair
contained enough genetic variability to allow all of this adaptation. He rejects essentialist
notions of human races, and supports the modern anthropological idea that different
human traits are distributed in different clines, making it impossible to define races
strictly.
Another speaker, a UCLA doctoral candidate in Near Eastern Studies who teaches
at Cal State Northridge, spoke about archeological research he has done in Syria (digs