Letters and Articles on Religion & Evolution

Unless otherwise noted, letters were submitted to the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune newspaper

No Real Evidence for Intelligent Design

16 February 2006
 

Proponents of Intelligent Design continue to try to attack evolution without actually presenting any evidence. The latest is the letter by Nancy McLaughlin. The only real argument that she can muster is the usual "life is too complicated to have evolved on its own." She also refers to the Discovery Institute. What she fails to mention is that they are a Christian-funded think tank whose avowed agenda is to replace science with their religious beliefs throughout our society and government institutions.

In an earlier letter, David Rousseau asserted that the evidence for an ancient earth is unreliable, but presented no actual specific evidence. That is because there is none. The evidence of an ancient earth is overwhelming and incontrovertible: layers of rock around the world show a consistent progression of life forms from primitive to more advanced, reproducible radioactive dating measurements, matching geological formations at continental boundaries proving that America and Europe / Africa were attached and drifted apart. The only way for all of this evidence to be false would be for God to have faked it all to fool us.

Of course, it's possible that Creationism supporters like Mr. Rousseau and Ms. McLaughlin believe this preposterous idea to be the case.

Further Proof of Evolution

12 April 2006
 

With the discovery of Tiktaalik roseae, another nail is driven into the coffin of Intelligent Design. Advocates of this religion-driven "theory" assert that there is a shortage of links between species. An actual analysis of the fossil evidence shows a plethora of such links and a continuum of development among the full range of organisms. Here are just a few prominent examples:

1. The horse shows a clear progression from a small four-toed animal to its current large hoofed form. In addition, the current existence of several species shows the radiation that was associated with this evolution.


2. There are hundreds of intermediate links from fish to modern mammals including lobe-finned fish, amphibians, reptiles, egg-laying mammals, and marsupials. There are even abundant fossils of pre-mammals, known as "mammal-like reptiles" (the Dimetrodon is the best known example of this group).


3. Finally, humans also show a clear path of development, along with the expected diversification and an abundance of dead-end species, to our current form. Starting with lemurs, continuing on to monkeys, then the apes, and finally the early hominids and on to modern man. The evidence is overwhelming.

Indeed, every living thing is either an intermediate stage on the way to another species or a dead end. Analysis of the taxonomic tree reveals a pattern of species that are closely related to each other connected to an increasing circle of organisms that are less and less close to them in form. This is the hallmark of radiation from a common ancestor via evolution.

ID proponents ask how a trait can just evolve to meet a previously nonexistent need. The record shows that what really happens is that a trait will develop to meet an existing need and then be adapted to a new situation. The new find demonstrates how legs originally evolved from fins through a series of small modifications to allow certain fish to skim along the bottom of shallow bodies of water. They were then available for use when a few pioneers ventured onto the land where further adaptations subsequently occurred.