I approach the creation-evolution dispute not as a scientist but as a problem of law, which means among other things that I know something about the ways that words are used in arguments. What first drew my attention to the question was the way the rules of argument seemed to be structured to make it impossible to question whether what we are being told about evolution is really true. For example, the Academy's rule against negative argument automatically eliminates the possibility that science has not discovered how complex organisms could have developed. However wrong the current answer may be, it stands until a better answer arrives. It is as if a criminal defendant were not allowed to present an alibi unless he could also show who did commit the crime. Phillip E. Johnson
About This Quote

Why do I believe in evolution? There are many reasons, but the most powerful is that I know something about the ways that words are used in arguments. My purpose here is not to advance a particular argument for evolution. Instead, I want to describe the rules of argument in their social context and show how they make it impossible for us to question whether what we are being told about evolution is really true. That is why I call these rules “the rules of argument” and not “the rules of debate.” We may debate whether Darwin was right or wrong in his theories; we may even criticize his methods and his understanding of evidence. But we cannot question Darwinism itself.

Source: Darwin On Trial

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