ABSTRACT
At its outset this book outlined three hypotheses concerning the significance of persuasive mass media in the Evolution Wars. These hypotheses are reassessed here, while further exploration is conducted into how persuasive cues are being conveyed in relation to both the Cultural Cognition Thesis and Moral Foundations Theory. This involves evaluating the overall finding that media opposed to evolutionary theory is more persuasively nuanced, and generally utilizes a more striking array of persuasion cues, values discourses, and moral framing than those deployed by proevolutionists. Additionally, noteworthy correlations between New Atheist and antievolutionist persuasion approaches are revealed with regard to the provocation of religion-evolution warfare plotlines. Consequently, what can be discerned in Evolution Wars mass communications is that media makers representing conflict positions on evolution and religion are those who most readily field culturally cognitive values and morally foundational language in tandem with persuasion cues. While media from all of the Evolution Wars media analyzed feature persuasive heuristics, it is apparent that values claims and morally charged language are concentrated within the works of those who advocate antagonism. In view of these findings, the chapter offers concluding propositions regarding the significance of persuasive mass media in the Evolution Wars.
