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Pro-Evolutionists’ Effective Arguments Against Creationists
JOEL KIRSCHBAUM
INTRODUCTION All that is needed to win arguments about evolution with creationists is for them to admit the existence of both atom bombs and DNA.
This kind of modern evidence is needed to argue evolution since creationists even deny the existence of fossils, which may be viewed in museums. If they do accept the reality of dinosaur bones, then they pronounce them to be merely a few thousand years old and to be the byproducts of Noah's flood. To biblical fundamentalists, fossils must be forced to follow faith, not facts, even when fossil fish with feet are found.
Radioactivity, the Basis of Both Nuclear Weapons and Medical Treatments, Proves the Earth is Old Enough for Evolution to Occur. Crime laboratories that have mass spectrometers usually use it to compare atoms in soil samples or bullet fragments. This is the equipment viewers see featured on TV crime programs It can also be used to generate data to approximate the Earth's age. Using a rock, preferably igneous, any observer can watch a technician measure the lead contents of Earth and moon rocks. Uranium-isotope 235 decays to Lead-207. Half of this element is gone in about 700 million years. Uranium isotope 238 decays to Lead-isotope 206 in about 4,000 million years. Since the two uranium isotopes have different half-lives and decay by different routes, finding the same age of about 4.5 billion years is confirmation. The age was verified using the decay of potassium-40 to argon-40. Scientists are confident that there were no changes in radioactive decay rates since this would have meant that the weak force holding atoms together changed. If this change occurred than the luminosity of stars would have changed.
The rates of decay from the two isotopes of uranium to lead has many steps but is analogous to the decay of the short-lived Iodine-131 used to treat thyroid tumors. Radioactive I-131 has a half-life of but 8.1 days, which means the dose must be carefully calculated and then administered at a specific time to be sufficient to burn out the tumor but not harm other tissues. This everyday analogous evidence between long- and short-lived isotopes helps prove radioactive dating is accurate.
Additional confirmation that the Earth is about five billion years old comes from measurements of the mass and luminosity of our sun as compared to others in our galaxy. Other contemporary evidence for an aged Earth is also astronomical. Fundamentalists can actually examine spectra of our helium-hued yellow sun, and then hold in their hands either photographs or scans showing red shifts of light from receding, similar stars. This shows that the light took longer than one billion years to travel from distant stars. Today’s best estimate is that the universe is 13.8 billion years old. These eons of existence show that there was time for complex organisms to develop and evolve.
Evolution is about DNA, DNA and still more about DNA. The all-important, omnipotent, every day, overwhelming argument for evolution is DNA. We all carry the proofs of evolution in us. It is not a theory but a fact. This molecule, and its related cousin RNA, provide the genetic links for all life; as well as the means of mutation and the natural selection mechanism for evolution to occur. Every criminal cold case solved is another point proving evolution, and today GoogleR gave the number of identified felons as about 320,000. Further contemporary support for evolution is that DNA evidence freed from “Death Row” from 300 to as many as 400 prisoners, who were wrongly sentenced to be executed, but now were exonerated and, in many cases, enriched by just compensation totaling as much as millions of dollars.
As further proof of evolution, consider now the situation where DNA is found at a crime scene that is similar but not identical to DNA already on file from a felon. (Humans share 99.9% similar DNA.) The police get DNA samples from family members, and often find a brother, uncle or cousin whose DNA is identical to that of the DNA collected at the crime scene. The relative is usually the criminal.
we have common ancestors. DNA studies show that the further removed in lineage the more dissimilar the DNA. The primate, who has 98.5% of its DNA in common with humans, is eating a banana that is about 25% related to human DNA. Incidentally, Ex-Governor Palin of Alaska signed a bill increasing funding
for DNA studies in state criminology labs, but, paradoxically and illogically, citizen Palin publicly rejects evolution.
“Zombie” Arguments Against Evolution. A “zombie fact” is a disproven notion that won’t disappear. One famous example is the so-called secret that the landings on the moon were movie special effects. To prove that the landings were real radar reflectors were deployed on the moon by astronauts.
“Zombie” Number 1: Evolutionists argue among themselves: There are no controversies about evolution among the believers in objective evidence. For example, the false demand to produce “intermediate species” was easily dismissed because no present-day species is the ancestor of any other. With time, we now understand the evolution of such complex structures as the skull, the eye and the three-bone cochlear apparatus, and the relationships of the molecules involved in blood-clotting. Evolution doesn’t propose that chimps are our great grandparents- only that nine or so millions of years ago the lineage split from a common ancestor to result in primates and to humans. No one doing a family genealogy will come across ancient photographs of hairy apes in zoos.
“Zombie” Number 2: Semantics: Since the word “theory” is attached to the word evolution, biblical fundamentalists want to denigrate and ignore evolution saying that a mere theory is the next closest thing to a guess. But this is only imprecise use of words; Newton's Law of gravity fails to explain the effect of a large mass like the sun to bend rays of light, which Einstein's general Theory of relativity does account for. Here, a "theory" trumps a "Law".
“Zombie” Number 3: The motive to teach Evolution is the salary: With my own two evolved-binaural ears I once overheard a student say money was the reason to teach evolution. In fact, teachers will always have something to teach; just like physicists will earn their incomes regardless of whether Newtonian or relativistic theories of gravity tested truer. Actually, both theories are taught since, depending on the circumstances, one set of calculations may be preferred to the other; although Newton’s Law is a special case of Einstein’s theory. Newton’s Law is invaluable in estimating the mass of a galaxy.
“Zombie” Fact 4: Life is too complex to form by itself; like a Boeing 777 or a watch: Evolution occurred in many stages. For example, there are about 42 different kinds of “eyes”, ranging from a few light sensitive cells to our own. We should note that human eyes evolved with the nerve cells going the long way from the back of the retina cells and around the front to reach the brain: hence the “blind spot”.
Evolution progresses by many mutations. That mutations improving natural selection are not rare is easily shown by analogy to the frequency of one golfer hitting two holes-in-one in one week. The reason for this rare double-event occurring is that millions of golfers daily are playing 18 holes worth of balls.
With respect to life on our planet, there were many chances for life evolving in a universe of about three hundred billion suns in our galaxy and billions of galaxies, so we are results of the statistical throws of myriad dice. Latest estimates are that about 50% of observed suns have planets, as shown by side-to-side solar wobbles due to the pull of gravity on the sun by an orbiting planet. About one star per 200 is estimated to have a planet in the habitable zone; so life on our planet isn't a statistical impossibility requiring divine special creation!
“Zombie” Number 5: Teachers must “balance” the theory of evolution with creation to be “fair”: You cannot balance evidence-based evolution as the reason for the multitude of organisms existing on our planet with a religious dogma based on a mere words in a few pages in an ancient book. There is enormous physical evidence for evolution and only subjective statements backing creationism. We all know that the past barring of the theory of evolution is now openly illegal. But then the fundamentalists’ “creator” strode into some classrooms disguised as an intelligent designer. This scientifically discredited theory of the origin of life, which is quickly disproven by the existence of endless anatomical errors and vestigial organs, was examined in court and now cannot be legally taught in public schools. Some fundamentalists also argue that free speech allows evolution to be denied. By analogy, a math instructor could claim it’s a constitutional right to teach that 2 + 2 = 1048.
“Zombie” Number 6: Teachers of evolution are “insulting” parents teaching creationism: U.S. Senator from Florida, Marco Rubio, a possible Republican candidate for the presidency in 2016, supports legislation that would allow teachers “to engage in a critical analysis of evolution” which he believed was only a theory. He didn’t want parents who taught their children creationism or intelligent design to be “mocked and derided and undone” by public school teachers whose methods he said were like Communist indoctrination. By extension, Senator Rubio, who is of Hispanic descent, should feel personally insulted if a teacher or textbook discussed the torturing and killings committed during the Spanish Inquisition. Sadly, the senator is not alone as a creationist in holding incorrect beliefs. A Gallup poll revealed that only 39% of Americans accept the theory of evolution. Almost equally unbelievable is the statistic that about 13% of public school science teachers advocate creationism. Creationism is even on the rise in England, the country of Darwin and the discoverers of the double helix structure of DNA.
Summary Evolution will eventually be accepted by the nation’s majority. While every person can hold the opinion that evolution is either true or false, the immutable fact is that evolution is true. Just as about a century ago many reluctant scientists had to eventually accept that matter is made up of atoms and molecules because of overwhelming evidence for their existences; we have a long being history of scripture superseded by objective data. Everyone accepts that our planet is round even though there are about 20 verses and proverbs in the Old Testament that say or intimate that it's flat. We all accept that the Earth orbits the sun although scripture says that the sun, moon, planets and stars all circle our planet. We accept that diseases are caused by micro-organisms or other natural bodily failures (other than Christian Scientists) ; that earthquakes are caused by shifts in fault lines or the sudden movement of tectonic plates, and that floods, famines and tornadoes are the cost of inhabiting an unstable planet. Most of the educated accept that these disasters are natural and not supernatural. We accept that these unfortunate events are not caused by witchcraft or sorcery; whose evil effects can be reversed by killing the agreed-upon suspect. Sadly, the sentence fragment, “Thou should not suffer a witch to live” still is followed to the letter since the tally of dead “witches” is still increasing in some third world countries. This proves that irrationality has no national borders. Continued conjecture about the brain circuitry of those rejecting evolution is beyond the scope of this evidence-oriented, essay, but the author is certain that it involves ingrained, egocentric ideas about a universe that is interested in each and every individual.
Believers in the scientific method must be prepared to present old Earth and DNA arguments for evolution using with evidence-based, modern arguments.
Acknowledgement: I thank Dr. Gerald Kulm, Editor of The Journal of School Science and Mathematics 109 (5) 243 (2009) for permitting some portions of my guest editorial entitled; “Teaching the Pros and Cons of Evolution in the 21st Century” to be used in this article.
Joel Kirschbaum is a retired research chemist with about 130 papers and chapters published in peer-reviewed journals. He is also a peer reviewer.
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