Creationism - National Center for Science Education

scientist is the authority of the facts of natural history,” Marsh insists—and he is
convinced that creationism can be truly scientific. He also affirms, however, the
scientific inerrancy of the Bible, and says that the Genesis creation account provides a
totally satisfactory explanation of all phenomena.
Marsh continued to expand on his “baramin” concept in several later works, and
to try to replace the obsolete, unscientific version of creationism with his modern,
scientific creationism.
There is no conflict between true science, that is, natural facts, and the true Christian religion except as the
student of this vitally important issue employs faulty technique. [1950:204]
The main reason why creation is talked down so generally is probably the fact that evolutionists do not take
the time to read the Bible carefully for themselves. [1957:159]
Marsh’s last book was Variation and Fixity in Nature (1976), which is an updated
and expanded discussion of the fixity of the created Genesis “kinds” and the variation
(speciation) within kinds. “One of the most basic and well-demonstrated of biological
principles is that of the limitation of variation” (1976:123).
The basic types, the created kinds, the baramins, stand so manifest and so clearly defined in nature by
appearance and reproductive behavior as to constitute a delight to the student observant enough to fix his
attention upon the level of the forest rather than upon the trees which constitute it. [1976:41]
Darwin discovered that species can change and thought that this disproved the Bible—
and most people went along with his reasoning—but all of this speciation is really just
change within baramins. Marsh tried to develop a scientific theory of baramins in which
they are defined by the ability of variations within them to hybridize. Despite referring to
baramins as “Genesis kinds” throughout, and referring to Creation Week and the Flood,
other biblical references are much fewer in this book than in his previous books (this is in
the era of “scientific creationism” as a non-religious alternative to evolution in schools).
Marsh concludes by calling for both to be presented in schools:
The Bible knows nothing about organic evolution. It regards the origin of man by special creation as a
historical fact... In view of the subjectivity of the evidence upon which a decision on the matter of origins
must be made, creationism and evolution should be respected as alternate viewpoints. [1976:123]
Robert E.D. Clark is author of Darwin: Before and After, a book first published in
1948, which is still frequently cited by creationists. Clark has a Ph.D. in organic
chemistry from Cambridge University and was active in the Inter-Varsity Christian
Fellowship in England. He had written a couple of other works discussing the
relationship of creation to evolution, and of materialism, rationalism and agnosticism to
Christian faith (1958, 1951). Darwin: Before and After looked at the personal as well as
scientific factors which led Darwin to write the Origin, and examined the harmful effects
of Darwinism on society and on political thought.
Clark, an old-earth creationist, admits that fundamentalist creationist arguments
are often “rubbish,” but he considers that such opposition is nevertheless valuable, since
evolution is indeed false (superficial change is possible, but evolution cannot “transform
the fundamental structures”), and also considering the effects that evolution has had on