Nuggets from Cosmos, Creator, and Human Destiny—Isn’t This “Scientism”?

A creationist present that day secretly and unethically taped the talk without Patterson’s permission and later released a transcript that has caused great controversy, with evolutionists charging creationists with misinterpreting Patterson. That led to an exchange of letters with evolutionists in which Patterson reaffirmed his faith in evolution in spite of its many problems.

Of course, Patterson’s job depended upon his supporting evolution. He “explained” that the famous quote had been misrepresented—that he had not meant evolution in general but merely the “systematics” thereof, since that was the group he was addressing. It is clear from the transcript, however, that he was indeed talking of evolution in general and of his disillusionment after twenty years devoted to it. Evolutionists defend Patterson by saying that he surely knows what he meant, but so can those who go by what he said. If words are to be taken at face value, then what he meant in this unguarded moment is clear—and so is his desire to deny it.