Professor Maddux questionably said “Evolution is a fact” and creationism is a “scientific theory with not enough evidence.” Has evolution been proven? Darwin theorized that small adaptations due to environment accumulate over time, creating new species. What conclusive evidence supports this claim? The finches Darwin studied had non-cumulative variations in beak length. A mathematics professor should be able to determine the duration of observations necessary to be within even a 50% confidence range (the same probability of getting heads in a coin toss) of the accuracy of expanding such observations over a 4.5-billion-year Earth age. Certainly this period is many times longer than the age of the theory of evolution.

Another incongruity in evolution is the lack of explanation of the beginning of life. Many cite the extreme conditions of a young Earth, yet no proof exists that even under these circumstances life can arise by spontaneous generation. Cells of today are complex, having defined structures with very specific purposes, and cannot survive without the least significant of these. Even given the minuscule chance life could start this way, what is the chance it wasn’t snuffed out and was able to go on to produce more life?

Creationism has an explanation of the beginning, organization and maintenance of life. Also referred to as intelligent design, one way it can be supported is the arrangement and intricacy of all the processes required to maintain life in even the simplest organism. The only argument against creationism is the disbelief of the possibility of an intelligent designer. Finally, creationism has not been abandoned. It was taught alongside evolution in the public school I attended, and neither theory was referred to as fact. In this liberal college, its teaching has been abandoned only to uphold some people’s view of separation of church and state.

Amber Hasche

Senior

Agricultural Engineering