Abilene Christian University Digital Commons @ ACU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate School Spring 5-7-2016 ‘Untruths and Propaganda’ – Churches of Christ, Darwinism, and the 1985-1986 ACU Evolution Controversy Paul A. Anthony Abilene Christian University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at:http://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd Part of theChristian Denominations and Sects Commons, and theHistory of Christianity Commons Recommended Citation Anthony, Paul A., "‘Untruths and Propaganda’ – Churches of Christ, Darwinism, and the 1985-1986 ACU Evolution Controversy" (2016). Digital Commons @ ACU,Electronic Theses and Dissertations.Paper 8. This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Digital Commons @ ACU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ ACU. For more information, please [email protected]. ABSTRACT In 1985-1986, Abilene Christian University endured what one observer called the worst attack in “size, nature and intensity” on a university affiliated with Churches of Christ. The flashpoint was whether two biology professors were teaching evolution as fact without refutation. The university denied it, but the controversy raged for two years. Left unanswered was the most basic of questions: Did ACU professors actually teach evolution without a creationist rebuttal? Which leads to another: Why in 1985 – 130 years after the publication of On the Origin of Species and 60 years after ACU had fired a professor who questioned readings of Genesis – did the controversy erupt? This study attempts to provide those answers. This study answers the first question principally through the use of primary sources – including interviews with those participants still alive and able to relay memories of the events, as well as memos, letters, and notes written by ACU administrators, faculty and students, and by the accusers and their allies. Secondary sources are used to help describe the history of Darwinism among Churches of Christ, especially in the decades leading to the ACU controversy. These sources include previously published material, and articles and letters written by those who were influential in shaping the assumptions of the movement. The study finds that the controversy occurred when it did because of the decades- long assumption among Churches of Christ – reinforced by ACU leaders – that evolution was profoundly anti-Christian. But this attitude was not universally held, especially among science faculty at ACU, who had become increasingly willing to accept aspects of evolution. The study also finds that the accused faculty members did indeed teach evolution as fact without rebuttal in their classes. The semantic ambiguity surrounding the subject, however, allowed the university to issue denials eliding the substance of the evidence presented against the professors. This study concludes that the attack was ultimately unsuccessful in its aims. The same forces that had led to the controversy – an unraveling of the consensus around certain beliefs among Churches of Christ beginning in the 1970s – also limited the effectiveness of the attacks. ‘Untruths and Propaganda’ – Churches of Christ, Darwinism, and the 1985-1986 ACU Evolution Controversy A Thesis Presented To the Graduate School of Theology Abilene Christian University In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in Modern and American Christianity By Paul A. Anthony May 2016 To Jocelyn, Grace, and Haven: Be brave. Be kind. Be good. Above all, never stop asking questions. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The following work would not be possible first and foremost without those who so generously gave of their time, their memories, and their archives at my request. They are credited in the footnotes and the bibliography, but such citations cannot capture the sacrifice required to reopen wounds that for some of them had clearly not quite healed thirty years later. I also am grateful to the Center for Restoration Studies – especially to Mac Ice, who worked around my finicky schedule to help me get the time I needed with the papers of W. W. Freeman, C. G. Gray, and others – and to Apologetics Press president Dave Miller, who not only made available Bert Thompson’s archives, but showed tremendous hospitality during my visit to Alabama. This thesis was built on a foundation of several term papers written for Drs. Doug Foster and Fred Aquino, whose mentorship with Dr. Brannan during this process has been invaluable. They made me a better thinker and a better writer, as have a host of current and former ACU Bible faculty over the past 16 years. Finally, I owe a great debt to my wife, Jennifer, and my three daughters, to whom this project is dedicated. Their willingness to let me pursue this degree – and all of the absences both physical and mental it required – was indeed an act of love, one I can never fully repay. I love you all very much! TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures ........................................................................................................ iv INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................1 Significance, Scope, Limitations .............................................................................2 Definition of Terms..................................................................................................3 Churches of Christ .......................................................................................3 Abilene Christian University .......................................................................4 Creationism ..................................................................................................4 Evangelical ...................................................................................................4 Evolution, Darwinism, Organic Evolution ..................................................5 Organization .............................................................................................................6 Literature Review.....................................................................................................7 DARWINISM AMONG CHURCHES OF CHRIST, 1859-1984 .........................13 Increasing Suspicion, 1859-1959 ..........................................................................14 Solidified Consensus, 1960-1984 ..........................................................................29 EVOLUTION IN ABILENE, 1985-1986 ..............................................................44 Pro-Evolution Voices .............................................................................................44 James B. Throneberry and Neal D. Buffaloe .............................................44 Leroy Garrett ..............................................................................................47 Facts of the ACU Controversy ...............................................................................49 Public Phase ...........................................................................................................65 ASSESSING THE ALLEGATIONS AND RESPONSE .....................................71 The “Myth” Handout .............................................................................................73 Pro-Evolution Textbooks .......................................................................................74 Eyewitness Reports ................................................................................................75 Lisa Fitts.....................................................................................................75 Brenda Lobley ............................................................................................76 Other Students ............................................................................................77 The Professors ............................................................................................81 Conclusion about Allegations ................................................................................84 Response: Reliance on Semantics ..........................................................................85 Evolving Responses ...............................................................................................89 Possible Motivations ..............................................................................................96 Effects of the Response ........................................................................................100 CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................107 Misinterpretation of Nuanced Positions...............................................................108 Generalizations and Ad Hominem Arguments ....................................................110 Balancing Academic and Faith Commitments ....................................................116 Brotherhood Publications.....................................................................................119 Different Results ..................................................................................................123 Conclusion ...........................................................................................................126 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................129 Primary Sources ...................................................................................................129 Articles and Contemporary Sources ....................................................................130 Secondary Sources ...............................................................................................137 LIST OF FIGURES 1. Cartoon sent to Bert Thompson, modified from the original published in the Firm Foundation in 1965 ..........................................................................................................113 iii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Little scholarly research to date has explored the response among Churches of Christ to the Darwinian theory of evolution, except briefly as part of larger projects on its members’ shifting alliances with broader American Fundamentalism.1 Yet in the mid 1980s, evolution became the focal point of a significant rift between Abilene Christian University and many of its constituents in Churches of Christ – significant in its length and impact, and because ACU is one of the largest universities affiliated with the group. Despite the recency of these events, exactly what was being taught in ACU’s biology classes has been unclear, as has the full story of the university’s response to the accusations against its professors.2 The 1985-1986 evolution controversy also raises a fundamental question: Why did it erupt when it did, nearly 130 years after Darwin published On the Origin of Species, more than 80 years after the university’s founding, and six decades after it last publicly addressed the question?3 The purpose of this study is to document and analyze the ACU evolution controversy in its context of conservative American Christianity in general, and Churches 1. Cf. Ronald L. Numbers, The Creationists: The Evolution of Scientific Creationism (New York: Knopf, 1992), 17; Michael Wilson Casey, “The Interpretation of Genesis One in the Churches of Christ: The Origins of Fundamentalist Reactions to Evolution and Biblical Criticism in the 1920s” (Master’s thesis: Abilene Christian University, 1989). 2. The story was initially told in the paper out of which this thesis has grown: Paul A. Anthony, “‘Untruths and Propaganda:’ Surveying the 1985-86 Abilene Christian University Evolution Controversy,” Restoration Quarterly 58 (Spring 2016): 40-53. 3. See below on the history of evolution at ACU and the 1922 firing of W. W. Freeman. 1