Ever hear someone on television decry the teaching of evolution in schools and claim the need to teach children “alternatives to evolution”?

Ever want to see that person get the intellectual beat-down they have coming? Or, if laughing at other’s stupidity isn’t your thing, ever wanted to know just what the latest evidence is to support evolution from the ever-changing fossil record?

Either way, you’ll want to attend the lecture “Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters” by Donald Prothero, geology professor at Occidental College in Los Angeles and one of the country’s leading paleontologists, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 12 at the South Carolina State Museum.

“What kills me, when I hear people speak about creationism and intelligent design, is that those people never have any background in paleontology,” says Prothero, prolific author and editor of some 22 books and nearly 200 scientific papers. “And yet they talk about it as if they do know, but it’s the equivalent of getting medical advice from an auto mechanic. I have no problem calling liars liars; I’ve been in this field for 30 years.

“They just haven’t done the work [and don’t] understand the fossil record. This is a field that is constantly changing with new discoveries; just recently here we found the fossil of a prehistoric turtle with only a bottom shell and teeth, what we call a ‘transitional’ fossil that marks the changes between evolutionary stages. These discoveries happen, but they happen in the scientific media and journals, which not everyone reads, and generally aren’t followed up on.”

It was precisely that lack of scientific writing in the mainstream media that caused by Lake Wylie businessman Bill Bancroft to organize the Bancroft Author Series, an effort to educate the public on matters of science through a lecture series.

“My background is in business, and while traveling all I’d do is read science books,”
Bancroft says. “I found I’d go to buy a new one and there’d be two shelves for those books and 20 shelves dedicated to pseudoscience, which was strange to me. I thought if I could help get the latest science out there in front of people affordably, maybe we wouldn’t have some of the narrow-minded problems in our society, like racism.”

Prothero has four talks scheduled: After Columbia, he visits Charlotte on Jan. 13, Charleston on Jan. 14 and Greenville on Jan. 15. Prothero says he’s eager to learn more about Greenville, traditionally the most right-wing Christian area in the state.

“All I know is Bob Jones is right down the street, so it should be interesting,” Prothero says. “I’ve found that if people don’t want their beliefs challenged or their minds expanded, they’ll elect not to come to a lecture, buy my books or to take my classes.

“But back when I taught at Central Illinois I had a class on evolutionary theory … by the time the seventh week of the class rolled around and we took up evolution, they’d learned so much they were able to distinguish themselves between science and non-science.

“I’ve battled creationists for 35 years now, and I’ve studied the Bible in both Greek and Hebrew, which is more than many creationists can say. So, I already know most of their arguments better than they do.”

Prothero says the motive for his most recent book — also called Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters — was to take into account the findings of the last 30 years and debunk alternative explanations as not standing up to the scientific method.

“The book was about taking the gloves off,” Prothero says. “Creationists manipulate the fossil record, quote scientists out of context and no one in the scientific community spends much time debunking them. I figured since they’re not fair, they lie and cheat all the time, it’s time to tell the world; we can’t just be arrogant and standoffish.

“This is about embracing science and what the fossil record is telling us. And really, it’s a far more fascinating story than limiting one’s mind to a particular religious viewpoint.” 

An author meet-and-greet runs from 6 to 7 p.m., and the lecture starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for the lecture are $10 for professors, students and groups and $15 for the general public. Tickets will be available at the door only. Call 898-4946 for more information.