Creationism - National Center for Science Education

Rev. Zimmerman, a chemist and a theologian, was president of Concordia
Lutheran College in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He edited a 1959 book Darwin, Evolution,
and Creation. The four authors included Klotz, Wilbert Rusch (described later in the
Creation Research Society section), Zimmerman himself, and a theology professor at
Concordia Teachers College in Nebraska. The authors acknowledge some limited
evolution as opposed to fixity of species.
But there is much in evolutionary theory, in its accompanying philosophy, and in its denial of creation that
we must reject and oppose. We hold that Christians must not confuse scientific fact, theory, and just plain
scientific speculation. [1959:x]
God reveals Himself in both nature and the Bible. “Neither form of revelation can
possibly contradict the other.” Scientific truth, however, is relative and changing; the
Bible’s truth is absolute (though it may be misinterpreted).
Zimmerman edited a 1966 volume called Essays from the Creationist Viewpoint;
the later, better known edition (1972) is titled Creation, Evolution, and God’s Word.
Authors are Klotz, Zimmerman, Rusch, Walter Lammerts (described later in the Creation
Research Society section), and Richard Korthals, a former astronautics professor at the
Air Force Academy, then teaching physics at Concordia Junior College in Ann Arbor.
Zimmerman also wrote other creationist pamphlets, which insisted both on
biblical inerrancy as well as that scientific evidence supported creationism. In one, We
Are the Offspring of God (nd), he admits that he opposes evolution primarily for biblical
and philosophical reasons rather than scientific ones: “It is indeed in the basic philosophy
of evolution that we find the greatest objection to evolution.” Evolution claims that man
has “risen from the swamp” and needs no Savior. This is bad science, says Zimmerman;
but more importantly, it contradicts the Bible.
EARLY CREATIONIST ORGANIZATIONS
Although Rimmer was the only member of his Research Science Bureau, and
wrote all the pamphlets and books that it published, the Bureau apparently did hold
public meetings.
The Religion and Science Association was organized in 1935 by Dudley Whitney,
assisted by George McCready Price and Byron Nelson. According to its constitution, its
members “assert their disagreement with the principle of evolution,” which is based on
the assumption that nature be interpreted solely in terms of natural processes. Members
affirm that God “is not hampered by any so-called ‘laws’ of nature,” and that they believe
the biblical account of definite acts of fiat creation by God (quoted in Morris 1984:112).
Morris, in his History of Modern Creationism, laments the fact L. Allen Higley was
recruited to be the Association’s first president. Higley was not a strict young-earth
Flood Geology creationist like the others; he believed in Gap Theory creationism. Morris
suggests that Higley was chosen because he had a legitimate science Ph.D. (they did not),
and occupied a prestigious position as professor of chemistry and geology at Wheaton
College in Illinois, a prominent Christian school. Higley cannot be accused of being soft
on evolution. He describes the purpose of his 1940 book as “to disprove evolution and
many other false speculations which dishonor the Creator...” (1940:6).