Akademik

(NEE.oh CREE.oh)

n.

A person who believes in a form of creationism in which the variety and scope of life is said to be the result of intelligent design rather than natural selection.

In the early 1990's, however, a new breed of creationists appeared. These "neo-creos," as they have been called, are no Dogpatch hayseeds. They have Ph.D.'s and occupy positions at some of the better universities. The case they make against Darwinism does not rest on the authority of Scripture; rather, it proceeds from premises that are scientific and philosophical, invoking esoteric ideas in molecular biology, information theory and the logic of hypothesis testing.

— Jim Holt, "Supernatural Selection," The New York Times, April 14, 2002

Since Darwin, the evidence for these relationships has been stunningly confirmed as scientists have probed more deeply. The bands on the chromosomes of humans and chimpanzees are strikingly similar. The genetic data that are pouring in from contemporary sequencing support just the relationships that evolutionists have inferred. That's why there's no scientific controversy about common descent, the fact of evolution. When pressed, even neo-creos (such as Michael Behe, the author of Darwin's Black Box) admit this.

— Phillip E. Johnson and Philip Kitcher, "Should Evolution Be Taught in Schools?," Slate Magazine, August 17, 1999

Today's word is undoubtedly a play on neo-creationist with the creationist (1859) part whimsically shortened to creo for the sake of the rhyme that gives this term its reduplicative charm.