The theory of evolution has become in a sense a scientific religion. Almost all scientists have accepted it and many are prepared to bend their observations to fit in with it.

This book is the result of a journey. You could think of it as a biography of sorts. It is the result of an odyssey into the very heart of hell itself, where the skeptics and critics rule as kings. There the hard questions were asked. Harsh discoveries were made and the uneasy truth found. The truth of the skeptic mindset was unearthed and the reality of the Christian mind was established. It is the experiences gained from this odyssey that I present to you now. My greatest hope is that your faith may be strengthened by my experiences.

Fake Evidence examines the scientific evidence offered in evolution-creation court cases from the State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes in 1925 to Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District in 2005. The validity of the different types of evidence is tested against the current ideas in the scientific literature. Much of the evidence offered in the past would not be offered in such a case if held today. The first chapter of the book looks at court evidence in light of the nature of science. Court cases have been decided based on fingerprints, handwriting samples, DNA, etc. only to be overturned later. Why are evolution cases allowed to stand when the evidence used in the trial is no longer valid? The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes is the first evolution-creation case. It is discussed in chapter two. Because of its well-known attorneys, Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan, it attracted national attention. In this trial, a hoax like the Piltdown Man was offered as evidence for the proof of evolution. Chapter three moves ahead to the 1960s and considers Epperson v. Arkansas that declared laws forbidding the teaching of evolution as unconstitutional. This case is also considered in light of two other court cases decided that decade--Engel v. Vitale that removed state-initiated prayers in the classroom and Abington School District v. Schempp that ruled against a daily Bible reading in school. How were these cases similar? Since evolution had to be taught, efforts were made to have evolution and creation taught side by side. These efforts brought about two court cases--McLean v. Arkansas Board of Education and Edwards v. Aguillard. McLean v. Arkansas Board of Education dealt with an Arkansas law and was decided in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas and was limited to that region. Edwards v. Aquillard was a similar law passed in Louisiana which was appealed all the way to the United States Supreme Court. The justices declared the teaching of scientific creationism was religious teaching and thus unconstitutional. The final case that is examined in this work is Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District. The school board in Dover, Pennsylvania wanted to see its students become aware of intelligent design. A good deal of this case centered on showing that intelligent design is religious teaching so that the judge could rule against it based on the earlier court cases against a religious view being taught in public schools. Fake Evidence closes with a look at some of the view expressed against religion in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District and the dangers found in those views. The book also contains several appendices, including one on “The Fruits of Evolution.”

Meet the “match made in heaven” between religion and science as they harmoniously converge through exploring the Catholic view on God and evolution. Author Dr. Verschuuren, a practicing Catholic and human geneticist, challenges the ‘black and white’ attitude toward matters of religion and science. Through drawing upon religion, philosophy, and biology, he reveals that science and religion answer different dimensions to the same fundamental question, “Where do we come from?” allowing for a compatible, and desirable coexistence—one that preserves, and in fact intensifies, God’s splendor.

A new understanding is developed in this book about the relationship between the Christian faith, modern science, and the world religions. The authors call their new position Evolutionary Pluralism. By combining the Christian faith with modern science and the global growth of religious diversity, Evolutionary Pluralism provides Christians with an alternative to current interpretations such as Young Earth Creationism, Old Earth Creationism, Intelligent Design Creationism, and Evolutionary Creationism. This new understanding stands solidly within the history and traditions of the Christian faith and builds on the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.

Evolution has provided a new understanding of reality, with revolutionary consequences for Christianity. In an evolutionary perspective the incarnation involved God entering the evolving human species to help it imitate the trinitarian altruism in whose image it was created and counter its tendency to self-absorption. Primarily, however, the evolutionary achievement of Jesus was to confront and overcome death in an act of cosmic significance, ushering humanity into the culminating stage of its evolutionary destiny, the full sharing of God’s inner life. Previously such doctrines as original sin, the fall, sacrifice, and atonement stemmed from viewing death as the penalty for sin and are shown not only to have serious difficulties in themselves, but also to emerge from a Jewish culture preoccupied with sin and sacrifice that could not otherwise account for death. The death of Jesus on the cross is now seen as saving humanity, not from sin, but from individual extinction and meaninglessness. Death is now seen as a normal process that affect all living things and the religious doctrines connected with explaining it in humans are no longer required or justified. Similar evolutionary implications are explored affecting other subjects of Christian belief, including the Church, the Eucharist, priesthood, and moral behavior.