Embedded Files
See also
See also
Brief note
Brief note
Creationists use the standard tactics of pseudoscience, which include but are not limited to: cherry picking, quote mining, conspiratorial thinking, moving the goalposts, and Gish gallops. The resources here illustrate just a few examples.
Resources
Resources
General
General
Resources covering multiple tactics. See below for resources dealing with specific tactics.
Creation Trick: Misrepresenting Sources
Video by biology professor Dan Stern Cardinale on his Creation Myths YouTube channel.
Brief summaries of various pseudoscience tactics on the Debunking Denialism website, a few of which have links to articles with more detail.
A comparative guide to science denial
Page on RationalWiki.
Quote mining
Quote mining
These are resources covering a number of mined quotes. Exposure of quote mining on specific subjects will be with the resources for those subjects.
Article in the journal Creation/Evolution on the website of the National Center for Science Education. The full issue in which this article appeared is available in PDF format.
Cherry picking
Cherry picking
These are few examples of creationist cherry picking. Exposure of cherry picking in specific subjects will be with the resources for those subjects.
Creationists omit facts from research to “disprove” evolution, nobody is suprised
Post by Adam Benton on his Filthy Monkey Men blog.
Fallacious reasoning
Fallacious reasoning
Analysis confirms creationists use fallacies
Post by Adam Benton on his Filthy Monkey Men blog about an analysis that was done on creationist articles and found that many used fallacious reasoning. Anti-creationist articles were also examined, and although they were not immune to the problem, the fallacies were much rarer in these.
Continuing to use refuted points or publish errors or after corrections have been pointed out
Continuing to use refuted points or publish errors or after corrections have been pointed out
Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why it Matters
In this book, Donald R. Prothero recounts a number of times he has pointed out errors to creationists, only to see them continue to use their claims with no corrections - even in the same debate.
Point refuted a thousand times
Some of these claims are known as PRATTs (points refuted a thousand times). This RationalWiki page gives a few examples relating to evolution.
Lucy's Knee Joint: A Case Study in Creationists' Willingness to Admit their Errors
This article by Jim Lippard in the TalkOrigins Archive details one example.
ICR Continues to Disseminate Paluxy Track Misinformation
Article by Glen J. Kuban on his Paluxy website (for more resources dealing with claims of human and dinosaur trackways found together, see the Paluxy section of Dinosaurs and humans coexisting).
Presenting evolutionary findings as if they are new and have newly raised controversy/strengthened the creationist position
Presenting evolutionary findings as if they are new and have newly raised controversy/strengthened the creationist position
Creationists invent controversy over Neanderthal intelligence
This post by Adam Benton on his Filthy Monkey Men blog serves as an example. It also shows an example of the use of the word 'admit' to make it sound as if evolutionists have been hiding something or are having to slowly give up on their position.
Escape hatches
Escape hatches
Page on RationalWiki.
Page on RationalWiki. Particularly relevant sections on this page are: Goddidit, Falldidit, and Flooddidit.
Creationists use miracles to explain why their predictions fail
Post by Adam Benton on his Filthy Monkey Men blog, covering one example of creationists using the escape hatch of waving away problems by invoking supernatural intervention.
Misrepresenting topics
Misrepresenting topics
Natural Selection Semantics: A Student Reacts to a Young-Earth Definition of Evolution
Post by biologist Joel Duff on his Naturalis Historia blog. Includes an essay written by a doctoral applicant (shared with permission).
A Creation Museum Speaker Asks: Do Animals Evolve?
Post by biologist Joel Duff on his Naturalis Historia blog, providing some examples.
Ham and Thomas get their Platypus Egg-Genes Scrambled
Post by biologist Joel Duff on his Naturalis Historia blog with a video discussing claims made in an Answers in Genesis article by Georgia Purdom about 'missing' egg genes in the platypus. In the blog post, Duff also talks briefly about an article similar to Purdom's written by Brian Thomas for the Institute for Creation Research. These instances are likely not deliberate misinterpretation, but a failure to research properly what they are writing about, which leads to a misrepresentation of the evidence. As Duff points out in his video, it doesn't help that popular science articles commonly fail to explain scientific findings adequately.
Lying
Lying
Video by biology professor Dan Stern Cardinale on his Creation Myths YouTube channel. Also includes quote mining.
Misleading wording or exaggerated wording or claims
Misleading wording or exaggerated wording or claims
Take, for example, this sentence from Creation Ministries International:
CMI is not wrong, but the wording is misleading - it makes it sound like geologists have tried very hard to push an 'evolutionist' worldview but are having to slowly and reluctantly give up their cherished position. Actually, there were two main opposing views in geology for a long time (catastrophism and uniformitarianism (which at the time meant gradualism but now means actualism)) and it is perfectly reasonable and natural that geologists followed the evidence that showed that the reality is a position between the two sides, but 'forced' makes it sound as if following the evidence is entirely against their will.
Examples of terms and the kinds of phrase to watch out for:
'The weight of the evidence now favours...' (may be one single paper against many opposing ones)
'overwhelming evidence' (often not overwhelming)
'Scientists are now forced...' (makes it sounds like scientists are reluctantly coming round to the creationist side; sometimes this is used for when the scientists have actually long held a certain view, even for a century or more, e.g. some sedimentation is rapid)
'[Scientist] has admitted that...' (makes a statement sound like a confession)
Blowing errors out of proportion
Blowing errors out of proportion
Creationist exploits woman’s death to push agenda
Post by Adam Benton on his Filthy Monkey Men blog.
Silencing criticism
Silencing criticism
See the page 'Censorship' for resources dealing with claims of anti-creationist censorship.
Blocked from Facebook – ICR Removes Another Form of Peer-Review
Post by Joel Duff on his Naturalis Historia blog.
Dishonest editing
Dishonest editing
Note: Similar to quote mining.
Article by Barry Williams in The Skeptic magazine about the dishonestly edited video of Richard Dawkins. Williams has responded to criticism of his article.
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