Why Can’t Evolution Evolve?

  Written by John Horvat II

Tennessee is once again in the news over a recent law on evolution. This time around, the pro-evolution forces are in full retreat. A full 87 years after the Scopes trail, the new law gives teachers broad new rights to call into question evolutionary theory and teach alternative scientific explanation favoring creation.

Of course, the new law has the evolutionists in an uproar at the very prospect that some one would dare to doubt Darwin’s infallibility. They blame the backwardness of fundamentalists for refusing to budge on this issue. They see the whole debate as a second Scopes trail with a population that just does not seem to understand the difference between science and religion.

However, it is not the creation side that has refused to budge. Rather, the evolutionists are stuck in the past. They are in a position that has changed little in the 87 years since Scopes. They still refer to the same monkey-ape-man chart that they always presented to students. The Big Bang has changed little over the years. The same soupy mix of chemicals still magically produces life hundreds of million of years ago, far from the verifying eye of any scientists.

In other words, evolution has “evolved” little since Darwin despite the fact that science has advanced enormously. Undoubtedly there are scientific developments in the field of evolutionary theory. However, the same general narrative is repeated over and over. The same missing links remain missing. Evolution is like some mammoth creature frozen in time. Nothing seems to change…or convince.

If there is a side to the debate where things are changing, it is that of those favoring creation. These advocates have gone way beyond Genesis and present scientific arguments to justify their positions. They present peer-reviewed studies of qualified professors and academics who point out the scientific weaknesses of evolution theory. They are constantly coming up with new scientific ways of presenting the case for creation ranging from creation science to the very attractive intelligent design. Their positions are not frozen in the unverifiable past but use every possible field of modern science to support their positions. Ironically, the creation advocates have learned to adapt, “evolve,”…and convince. They are not afraid to question evolution’s non-evolving assumptions.

Not only has the evolutionary theory remained frozen, but their anti-creation rhetoric also seems to be stuck in time.

Evolutionary zealots will not debate on the field of science because they simply declare that any arguments outside of evolutionary are not scientific. Such worn-out slogans are hardly original and certainly not scientific.

The evolution advocates still circulate the slogan that states who adopt laws like those of Tennessee risk becoming the laughing stock of the nation – as if public opinion can determine what constitutes science. Despite the fact that as many 15 percent of biology teachers have broke ranks and now teach the scientific case for creation science in high school (and another cautious 60 percent staying away from the subject of evolution), the evolutionists still parrot the slogan that educators not legislators should determine school curriculums. These and other slogans all dance around the issue, they never enter into the merits of the scientific arguments presented by accredited professors and academics. They merely decree that evolution – frozen on the monkey to man chart – shall be taught to all without any questions.

Perhaps it is time to cut evolution free. Why can’t evolution simply be allowed to evolve on a level playing field? Why can’t evolution be allowed to die a natural death or evolve into something more convincing?