Quote Mining and Damage Control

Believers in universal common ancestor evolution are often presented as being united in their beliefs, with only a few small details disputed in the drawing room over cigars and brandy. Evolutionists often get on the prod when creationists refute this false image.

In US law, statements against interest are admissible in court. When we use the words of evolutionists who are candid about their doubts, accusations of quote mining are utilized. One of the most impressive statements against interest was made by Dr. Colin Patterson.

Unfortunately, some Christians have done quote mining. It usually seems to be from uninformed but enthusiastic people who want to have a "gotcha" remark against evolution. From those who are informed, and especially from creationist organizations, the charge is generally unfounded because such people know the importance of context and checking the facts. We cannot be like misotheists and anti-creationists who do use quote mining of the Bible.

In Darwin's Enigma, Luther Sunderland asked Dr. Patterson why he did not include any photographs of transitional fossils in his book on evolution. Patterson replied that there were none. When an anti-creationist attempted to mitigate damages, Patterson didn't help the situation for evolutionists. He made additional statements questioning evolution.

Indeed, we have been called liars when quoting Paterson when he said that scientists could not answer his question about what is true about evolution, and the quoted someone else that said evolution should not be taught in schools. Those accusing us of being liars are the liars themselves (it's who they are and what they do), since those statements have been documented.

Back to the main topic. Claims that creationists are quote mining are are almost always unfounded, and accusers must prove misquoting; fundamentalist evolutionists disliking the material is not evidence of wrongdoing on our part, old son. Efforts to rescue Colin Patterson from himself and for Darwin have failed.

One of the most famous and widely circulated quotes was made a couple of decades ago by the late Dr Colin Patterson, who was at the time the senior paleontologist (fossil expert) at the prestigious British Museum of Natural History.

So damning was the quote—about the scarcity of transitional forms (the ‘in-between kinds’ anticipated by evolution) in the fossil record—that one anticreationist took it upon himself to ‘right the creationists’ wrongs’. He wrote what was intended to be a major essay showing how we had ‘misquoted’ Dr Patterson. This accusation still appears occasionally in anticreationist circles, so it is worth revisiting in some detail.

You can read the article in its entirety at "That quote!—about the missing transitional fossils: Embarrassed evolutionists try to ‘muddy the waters’." Also worth your time is "Refuting the D.M.S. Watson Quote Mining Accusation" and "That 'Quote Mining' Monkey Business" (that one is about a George Wald quote).Also, the video below is from a few years ago, but has material that makes Darwin's disciples furious: