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Phillip Johnson is not a scientist, he is a professor of law. He thus is familiar with the use of words for making persuasive arguments. He was drawn to the field of the creation/evolution controversy when he examined the arguments which were being propounded by the evolutionists and discovered that they were turning the words around so that the argument was impossible for them to lose. For instance, the National Academy of Science states that creation-science cannot be science because "it fails to display the most basic characteristic of science: reliance upon naturalistic explanation". Another method used by evolutionists is circular reasoning. When all else fails and they cannot provide an explanation for how a particular feature or species "evolved", they fall back on the argument that "although we don't know the mechanism by which it occurred, the fact that we can see it now proves that it evolves. The thought that there could be an alternative explanation, such as intelligent design, is never considered.

Johnson takes the reader through the gamet of evolutionary theory, and shows point by point where the problems are with evolutionary theory. Beginning with natural selection, then mutations, fossils, and other areas of evolutionary science. In addition, he covers areas like "the rules of science", which demonstrates the scientific mentality which leads to evolutionary dogma being treated as "fact" even in the face of evidence to the contrary because there is no "scientific" paradigm to replace it. He also discusses the "religion" of Darwinist scientists, which prevent them from being able to accept creationism no matter what the evidence may be. Johnson reveals the existence of the "scientific priesthood" who have the authority to officially interpret science, and who will not allow an alternative viewpoint to be given serious consideration.

Johnson states his goal in the book to be "to legitimate the assertion of a theistic worldview in the secular universities". He has gained much ground to this end, and by using rational arguments and sound reasoning, has gained credibility, if not acceptance, by even many evolutionists.

Darwin on Trial is recommended for those who want to seriously examine the evidence and particularly the faulty reasoning and arguments used by evolutionists against creationists. If you could never understand why it seemed that science would never seriously consider a creationist viewpoing, this book will explain why that is true, and what is necessary to change it.

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- dsm