There is No Scientific Theory of Evolution Other than Darwin’s by Tony Citarella
The debate over teaching the Theory of Evolution in public school science classes has come to a head, again, in the Florida Senate Judiciary Committee. A team of conservative critics of evolution, headed by Ben Stein (he just released a pro-Creation movie called Expelled), have been promoting the “Evolution Academic Freedom Act” which will allow science teachers to propose Intelligent Design (ID) or Creationism alongside the Theory of Evolution. The Committee passed the bill, and next the Florida State Senate will vote on the Act.The problem with this debate is that it frequently turns into a debate between Science and religion. For virtually every major religion on Earth, the Theory of Evolution has been repeatedly treated like heresy. And for any devout follower of religious texts, one has to be false for the other to be true.
But other than Evolution, there are no scientific theories concerning the origins of life. What the bill really strives for is the right for teachers to teach religion in Science classes.
If the Theory of Evolution has, all by itself, the power to nullify religion, then faith is shown to be very weak. One does not have to pick one or the other, but has to understand that Evolution relies on evidentiary support, and religion is founded on faith. Furthermore, in a country founded on the separation of church and state, religious views are not permitted in public school, unless explained in religion classes.
For these reasons, Intelligent Design and/or Creation have absolutely zero places in a Science classroom. Neither the Law, nor the evidence supports them.
For starters, the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection is a Scientific Theory, and Intelligent Design isn’t.
A Scientific Theory Must:
1) Explain a wide array of observable and detectable evidence and why the evidence performs in the manner it does
2) Be falsifiable, or capable of being proven wrong
3) Make predictions about future events
4) Continually be reinforced by the evidence collected
Intelligent Design is not a Theory, because it does not satisfy requirements 2, 3, or 4 and Evolution does. Furthermore, this helps show that those who claim “Evolution is just a Theory” are ignoring the requirements of what makes a Scientific Theory.
A Scientific Theory is not, and has never been, just an idea.
The fact is that no evidence suggests that Intelligent Design ever produced humans. The evidence has only reinforced the Theory of Evolution.
The greatest trait of humanity is reason, and we should use it. Our unmatched ability to reason is the one thing that separates us from every other species on Earth. Human wit is a seemingly inexplicable trait that many argue defies the logic of evolution.
But, unlike ID, Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection has yet to be imposed with an argument that it couldn’t eventually explain.
First, Scientists know that Evolution occurs. We can see it, as Darwin did, in birds that have adapted differently shaped beaks for different uses, but are otherwise the same. This is observably measured and tested, and we can know it as a fact. In this sense, Evolutionists and advocates of Intelligent Design agree.
The real question is whether or not humans evolved from another species of Primate, or whether an intelligent being created Homo sapiens (humans) from scratch. This is where most skeptics of Evolution say the Theory does not apply.
In Ben Stein’s new movie, Expelled,a scene shows a teacher explaining Evolution and Ben arrogantly asks the question, “How did life begin in the first place?”
Let’s borrow this logic, or lack thereof, for a moment. If we assume that an intelligent designer must have been present to initiate the first life, then it only leads us to another question: “How did that designer get there in the first place?”
We can go back further and further, at some point either life began on its own, or as Stein and many other Creationists would suggest, God made it.
Therefore, ID and Creationism are really no different, except in their names. Both concepts involve some intelligent interference in the leap from apes to humans, or in the origin of life. In actuality, they both assert that Humans were made from some other-worldly being, even though no evidence of this has ever been collected.
But the Theory of Evolution is very different. The process of Evolution is generally very slow, aside from a rare leap, but we can see enormous amounts of evidence even through only one generational cycle.
No human on Earth is a direct genetic replica of his parents. They adopt traits from both of them, and therefore, are slightly different. Furthermore, no human being on this Earth was created without a sperm and an egg uniting. It is doubtful that any advocate of ID would believe his wife became pregnant without his sperm, yet this is clearly what the idea of ID supposes.
Geological studies place the age of the Earth at about 4.6 billion years, and Biologists say the first life came into existence about 3.5 billion years ago. The evidence of a first life form is often cited by ID/Creationists as proof that something must have interfered. But Science can explain this with evidence also.
Scientists in laboratories can assemble amino acids, which are chemicals that make up proteins, and subsequently make up DNA, into sequences of DNA that will actively seek atoms and molecules from their surroundings to replicate themselves. These strands of DNA are then alive in every sense of the word. The DNA itself seeks reproduction on its own.
About 50 years ago Stanley Miller and Harold C. Urey conducted an experiment to see if the Earth’s primitive atmosphere could have produced amino acids. Since geologists claimed that Earth’s early atmosphere contained water, methane, ammonia, and hydrogen, he combined these molecules into an experiment.
After one week, there were more than 20 types of amino acids: the basic building blocks of DNA. This happened in only one week, yet Earth ran this experiment for millions of years. There is a nearly infinite amount of combinations that would have been produced over that time frame. Also, literally countless combinations would have produced life. If any one of them, by chance, came into existence, living creatures would inhabit the Earth.
At some point, the right combination of amino acids did join together to produce the Earth’s first strand of replicable DNA. Then, this molecule started to bond with other atoms and molecules to replicate, just like the DNA that Scientists created in a lab. It reproduced itself over and over again, until after a time, it grabbed a slightly different set of atoms and molecules, and the pattern was changed. While the original molecule continued to replicate, the new combination did the same.
They divided again and again for millions of years until a strange, new, arrangement was formed that could better defend itself from natural forces. The cell, with a protective covering over the DNA, could replicate with remarkable success.
This was the first life ever on our Planet, and it was the seed that evolved into bacteria, plants, animals, fungi, and protists (like amoeba). After 3.5 billion years of adapting, it would produce Homo sapiens.
The clear unavoidable fact that every living organism on Earth has DNA is the biggest evidence of a common ancestor for all of us. DNA that is joined from a male sperm and a female egg is what gives every human being life, and it has nothing to do with a designer, but has everything to do with reproduction.
Humans are classified by Science the same way that all other life on earth is classified. We are members of one of the Five Kingdoms of Life (Animals, Plants, Protista, Monera, and Fungi), and also farther down the line all the way to species. The classification looks like this:
Kingdom: Animalae- All animals, from spiders and worms to elephants and fish
Phylum: Chordata (vertebrates) - Any animal with a backbone, like fish, frogs, lizards, cats and Humans, but not worms, insects, crabs, etc.
Class: Mammals – Any animals which have hair, give live births (not eggs), females nurse their young, and have a neocortex area of the brain. All of these apply to humans.
Order: Primates – Many rodents, apes, lemurs, and humans.
Family: Hominids – Organisms within the Primates who walk on 2 legs, like Australopithecus, Paranthropus bosei, and Humans
Genus: Homo – This Genus appeared on the Earth around 2.5 million years ago, and is seen through the emergence of animals in the Hominid family who became users of tools, like Homo erectus, Homo habilis, Homo ergaster, etc.
Species: sapien – From the latin “to think”, this is who we are
This is why our species of life is called Homo sapiens.
The system of classification, called taxonomy, groups together animals with similar genetic traits from the widest varieties to the very smallest. As a species, Homo sapiens are very genetically similar, and as we move up the chart, the classifications have more genetic diversity, all the way to the 5 fundamental types of living organisms.
ID advocates assume that nearly all forms of life were created and that the similarities are pure coincidence. They ignore the fossil record, the genetic record, embryonic evidence, and virtually every ounce of evidence that could be classified under the heading of “common sense”.
In 1995, National Geographic News reported that Chimpanzees and Humans share 96% of the same genetic material. They are our closest living relatives. But between Chimps and Humans, there have been many other species that were much more similar to us that are all extinct now. There was Homo erectus, Neanderthals, Cro-Magnons, Homo habilis, and at least three others that all, like us, used tools and walked on two legs.
Scientists are currently working on mapping the genome of Neanderthals, and the other Hominids. The fabled “missing link” may be discovered within the next few years due to genetic mapping. There is a very good chance we will one day know exactly who our ancestors were.
This is part of the evidence that ID advocates just want to ignore.
The same advocates have disassociated themselves with “Creationism” because of its religious overtones, in favor of the also unsupported idea of Intelligent Design. They may even call themselves Intelligent Design “Theorists” although Intelligent Design has already fallen short of the requirements of becoming a Scientific Theory, especially one that should be taught in Science classes.
This debate should not be based on religious beliefs at all for one unavoidable fact: Every religion has clear undeniable falsehoods.
Some may call these falsehoods nitpicking, but According to Pew Research Center, 69% of Americans are “very certain” the Bible (including the Old Testament) is “the Literal Word of God”. Others believe that religious texts are to be interpreted. A Harris poll recently showed that Americans say that the Bible is their favorite book. That gives a perfect explanation as to why Evolution is not universally accepted in the US, even in the face of overwhelming evidence.
But as such, for the purposes of this discussion, the Old Testament, which is accepted by both Christians and Jews, will be the main focus of discussion.
· The Universe, and man, were not created 10,000 years ago as the Old Testament claims. It was created 13.7 Billion years ago. We know this by studying the movement of galaxies through the Universe. They are all moving in a circular expansion away from a central point. If we trace the paths and velocities backwards, we see that sometime around 13.7 billion years ago, they were all at the same point. The fossil record for modern Humans goes back about 74,000 years.
· Since Science has had little difficulty in explaining the evidence for the Big Bang, we can assume that the world was not created in 6 days, as the Old Testament claims. It happened in a fraction of a second, and it was long before the concept of a “day” was even created.
· The Earth is not the Center of the Universe. This religious belief led to the persecution of Galileo who pointed a telescope to the night sky, and proved that the Bible was wrong. The Church later forced him to recant his discovery. Copernicus, who first made this discovery, kept it secret until he was on his deathbed because he was a religious clergyman and feared repercussions from the church.
· The book of Genesis claims the Earth was made before the Sun and that the Sun, the Moon and the stars were created on the same day. Astronomers can look at stars and galaxies that are 10 billion light years (the distance light travels in one year) away. These stars are at least 10 billion years old, and the Earth is only 6 ½ billion years old. The Sun was here long before the Earth, and the moon didn’t exist until after both.
For those that say the Bible is the “Literal Word of God”, it is clearly wrong. So, it is obvious that is open to interpretation. If it is open to interpretation, there is no reason anyone would debate so vehemently against Evolution, especially in the face of such overwhelming evidence.
Science always accepts debate, and this is the most altruistic aspect of Science. All too frequently, religion does not share such a benevolent modesty.
For any debate to function, people have to be open-minded, and also accept that their conceptions may be wrong. If this doesn’t happen, the debates turn into a battle for extremist belief, instead of a battle for understanding. Evidence cannot be ignored by either side.
The fact of the matter is that Evolution is the only supported explanation for the origin of our species and the origin of life. Even the Catholic Church has claimed in recent years that Evolution and faith are not inconsistent with each other. The choice is not one or the other. And it’s a good thing, too, because the fossil record is indisputable.
Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection has mountains of support, and is one of the most brilliant and fundamental assertions in all of Biological Science. There is no other Scientific Theory to explain the origins of mankind, and therefore, no other pseudoscientific idea that should be taught in a Science Class.
Keep Intelligent Design and Creationism in religion classes, where they belong.