In this document I aim to give a brief overview of evolution (in terms of "Life, the universe and everything") and weigh that against the current Creationist theory of a young earth & universe by divine creation. I have researched the information presented here as thoroughly as possible in the timeframe allowed and I would like to make it clear that it represents my views on this subject entirely.
The bible states that the world was created in 6 days and is some 6 to 7 thousand years old, science says it took a lot longer and is around 4½ billion years of age.
Many radical Christian groups take every word of the bible literally, that is to say that they believe the bible to be the divinely inspired word of God ... the absolute and incontestable TRUTH. Atheists and many scientists, however, claim that the bible is a book written by humans with no divine involvement. Fortunately, however, many well-educated Christians continue to believe that the bible should not be taken literally and that God and evolution can co-exist.
Nevertheless there exists a "hard-line" group of Christian "cults" that not only believe that the world and mankind was divinely created but seem determined that the rest of the world should believe it too. Science, typically uncaring of the existence of such beliefs and their associated deities, continues to strive forward in search of the truth.
According to modern cosmological theory (based on Einstein's Theory of General Relativity) at the time of the Big Bang space did not exist or rather the big bang occupied the whole of space. Distant galaxies are not moving at high-speed through space but move slowly relative to their neighbouring counterparts and as space expands the wavelength of light lengthens (commonly referred to as "redshift"). Space is infinitely elastic and does not expand into anything.
Cosmological redshift is not Doppler shift but, like it, is measurable. Doppler shift is caused by the expansion of light emitted by an object that is moving rapidly away from us. Redshift is caused by the expansion of space itself (and the light that moves through the expanding space) so the more distant an object is the faster it appears to be moving away from us.
That the "big bang" actually occurred is supported by observable phenomena. Refinements of George Gamow's (1947) calculations indicated that if the universe were compressed to the size theorised in the "big bang", to "explode" and then cool some 13 billion years later the temperature would be around 3 Kelvin. Penzias & Wilson (1965), whilst tuning a new antenna, detected static (persistent radio noise) where there should have been none. In a paper, for which they won the Nobel Prize in Physics, the two scientists revealed data showing the universe glowing in the microwave spectrum. They interpreted these findings as the remnant glow of the "big bang". More recent precision measurements have revealed that the universe is bathed in radiation that fitted a "black body curve" for an object with a temperature of 2.735K.
Current thought is that the universe is approximately 13 billion years old.
Homo sapiens has only been resident for some 50,000 years so we were, unfortunately, unable to witness the birth of our planet. Nevertheless the key to the age of the Earth is observable phenomena ... that is phenomena observable & measurable today can give us the information we need to discover past events and their timings.
The major methods of achieving this are:
These methods all tend to agree that the Earth is between 3.8 and 5 billion years old.
At some point in the distant past the first living cells formed ... exactly when, and by what mechanism, is as yet unknown. The oldest speculated life forms are, at least, 1 billion years old so we can be certain that it happened sometime before that. The origin of life was not a process of evolution but of abiogenesis and scientists have speculated on the possible ways in which it might have occurred. The earliest chemical steps are believed to have been as follows:
It has since been demonstrated (Gunter von Kiedrowski) that oligonucleotides can replicate via ligation. Following the ligation of oligomers the synthesis of larger chains of nucleotides would become fairly certain and large chains of folding nucleic acids that could catalyse reactions a distinct possibility.
With the formation of membrane structures around the nucleic acid strands the first life would have appeared on Earth.
Whilst there can be no doubt that the above has problems and is largely speculative, that life spontaneously formed is beyond doubt ... it is only the precise mechanisms that remain to be elucidated.
Once life had originated in the primeval oceans (the pre-biotic soup) it began to evolve. Evolution is defined as a change in the gene pool of a population over time. It is now classified into two distinct types micro-evolution (the finer changes noted by scientists) and macro (speciation). The theory of Evolution was first fully embodied by Charles Darwin in 1859.
A scientific theory is not a guess or an approximation but an extensive explanation developed from well-documented and reproducible sets of data derived from experiments which repeatedly observe natural processes. From such data models are developed and it is important to note that these models (and their subsequent outcomes) are not decided in advance but can be modified and improved as new empirical evidence is uncovered. Science is constantly subject to peer-review and is a self-correcting attempt to understand nature and the observable universe. Science is not teleological that is to say theories do not start with a conclusion, refuse to change and acknowledge only data that the initial conclusion supports. Further, science does not base theories on untestable collections of dogmatic proposals but is characterised by questions, hypothetical proposals, design of empirical models and conceptual frameworks with the aim of researching natural events.
Examination of the fossil record has established extensive and comprehensive evidence for organic evolution. Radiometric and other dating techniques are the primary tools of the evolutionary scientist which, when used properly, are highly accurate means of establishing dates in the history of the planet and in the history of life. The fossil record has revealed that, in comparison with earlier periods, there was an "explosion" of genetic diversity in the Cambrian era. It has also revealed that Homo sapiens has occupied only a tiny amount of the 4.5 billion-year history of the Earth.
See Appendix 1 for an Evolutionary time-scale from the beginnings of life to the advent of the hominids.
Darwin's Theory of Evolution (1959) demonstrated that the diversity of life on earth is the outcome of evolution and natural selection as the primary mechanism for adaptation and evolutionary change (there are more). Natural selection can be demonstrated to have no specific goal including the survival of the species and adaptation does not always provide an obvious selective advantage as there is no indication that adaptations of any kind must be perfect or immediately useful.
Evolution requires genetic diversity. It is wrong to assume that a condition exists that requires a mutation and a species then evolves to fill that requirement. Available evidence indicates that in most cases pre-existing genetic diversity provides the material required for evolution to proceed at speed. A good example of this is the British moth (Biston betularia) which were generally white-winged with around 2% of the population having darker wings. With the advent of the industrial revolution and the deposition of large levels of pollutants in the creatures habitat predators removed the majority of white-winged insects from the population (now easily visible against the now dark, polluted surfaces on which they settled) and allowed the darker-winged ones to survive and reproduce. Over several generations the majority of the betularia population were being born dark-winged. There can be no doubt that evolution at the micro level had occurred but it is important to remember that such a rapid change in genetic diversity could not have occurred had there not already been dark-winged insects within the population. It is an excellent example of natural selection.
There are various mechanisms required for evolution to occur and to continue occurring. Mechanisms that increase genetic diversity (Natural Selection, Sexual Selection & Genetic Drift)and mechanisms that decrease it (Mutation, Recombination & Gene Flow):
Natural Selection (Decrease)
Natural selection
(see Biston betularia example above) is considered to be the mechanism by
which a given organism type within a population have more offspring than
others. Less fit animals get killed or simply have no offspring. "Fitness"
should not be confused with the common human notion of physical fitness ...
"fitness" means adaptation to a given environment. It is also worth noting
that individuals amongst a population have a tendency to self-select either
by sex or by other factors.
Sexual Selection (Decrease)
Many species
(including humans) "choose" their mates and various mechanisms have evolved
to use this selective pressure. Sexual selection tends to be self-limiting
... in some species the male can be seen to attract the female by impressive
display (e.g. the peacock) but, negatively, that display also decreases the
chance of the animals survival. In such cases evolution balances between
increased attraction (and thus reproduction) and vulnerability to predators
(death).
Genetic Drift (Decrease)
Genetic drift is the
change in allele frequency due to chance alone and is a "binomial sampling
error of the gene pool". In smaller populations the rate of allele change is
greater whereas larger ones have more alleles in the gene pool but lose them
more slowly. When a population decreases rapidly in size the remaining
alleles may not be representative of the species as a whole and significant
genetic drift can be seen to have occurred ... this is known as the "founder
effect".
Mutation (Increase)
During the DNA copying
process mistakes can be made. A single genetic "letter" might be changed a
sequence of code added or deleted or genes can become inverted. The rate of
mutation is between 10*10^-10 and 10*10^-12 to 1 per base pair/per
generation. Most of these are non-advantageous leading to changes in the
shapes of proteins (potentially destroying its function) but some (very few)
are potentially advantageous. The ratio of advantageous to disadvantageous
change is unknown and likely varies with respect to the organism's
environment.
Recombination (Increase)
Recombination
("gene shuffling") occurs during meiosis and creates new combinations of
alleles.
Gene Flow (Increase)
Gene flow is the
introduction of new genes into a gene pool for instance the addition of a
mate from one population into another non-related one.
Man (and in fact all life on Earth) stem from common ancestors. The word "hominid" is used to describe all the species stemming from our common man & ape ancestor. A larger group, "hominoidia" is used to describe all the species derived from our common ancestor including the great apes.
Currently the main hominid sequence appears to be: Australopithecus ramidus, Australopithecus anamensis, Australopithecus afarensis, Australopithecus africanus, Homo habilis, Homo erectus, Homo sapiens (archaic), Homo neandertalis, Homo sapiens (modern). Note that there were also the Australopithecus robustus, Australopithecus boisei and Australopithecus aethiopicus branches ("dead-end").
Recent evidence demonstrating that Australopithecus ramapithecus may be closer in biochemical terms to the orang-utan indicates that the man-ape split may have occurred closer to 10 million years ago. As such Australopithecus ramapithecus is now considered to be a pre-hominid species (common to man & ape).
Note: See Appendix 2 for an Evolutionary time-scale of the Hominid Sequence.
Many of the authors are unknown, many of the "authors" were several people. Many of the known authors are names selected for them by believers rather than the name of the author(s) himself ... the New Testament books by Matthew, Mark, Luke & John are good examples of this.
According to Judith Hayes the Bible, at around 1,300 pages of very small print is a mixture of fierce, bloody battles, scores of twenty-generations-long, mind-numbing genealogies, some poetry and an indecipherable mixture of confused & poorly understood material. In the New Testament Jesus carried out a number of claimed "miracles" but all the reports of these are second hand ... not one of the authors ever claimed actually to have seen any of those astonishing things personally (a disturbing theme throughout). It is interesting that the actual (hypothetical?) observers were not motivated to report these events themselves.
Some Christian groups (notably creationists) consider the bible to be the one true book of their lord, the absolute word of their God. Yet it contains many things that one would not expect of a God who, it is claimed, loves us ... a God whose divine and absolute powers (even when working through others) would have resulted in a perfect book with no mistakes.
So was the bible divinely inspired? If it was it should contain the perfect philosophy, it should perfectly accord with every fact in nature, there should be no mistakes in astronomy, geology or any subject in science. Its morality should be above reproach, its laws and regulations should be just, wise & perfect, it should be opposed to strife, war, slavery, lust, ignorance, credulity, superstition and, above all, it should be true.
God is understood to be the perfect entity, it follows logically that the perfect entity would create a perfect book whether he/she/it wrote it directly or by proxy. As such, it is impossible for the Bible to have been divinely inspired because it meets none of the above criteria. Simple examination of the bible reveals many flaws, absurdities, inconsistencies, unlikelihoods and vulgarities.
Consider the following passages:
"And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment."Though it must be conceeded that fear might be interpreted as respect (as in for one's master) each of these statements appears to contradict the others. If the bible were really divinely inspired such contradiction would not exist ...
Mark 12,30
"Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name."
Deuteronomy 6,13
"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love."
1 John 4,18
"And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered."In the past mountains were lower but not significantly so at the time the Noahic flood was claimed to have occurred. The deepest point in the oceans is 7 miles but typically, if we include continental shelves, the oceans average around 1 to 1½ miles. If water indeed covered the mountains to the height claimed (slightly above the highest peaks ... approximately 6 miles then there would be around 10 times as much water on the Earth as there is today. Where has all that water gone?
Genesis 7, 19-20
"And Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people unto the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men. And David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the LORD, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O LORD, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly. For when David was up in the morning, the word of the LORD came unto the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying, Go and say unto David, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee. So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days' pestilence in thy land? now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me. And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man. So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men."God, who apparently loved his people, killed seventy thousand just because their leader had an attack of guilt. What kind of god would commit such an atrocity?
Samuel 24, 9-15
The bible is considered to be a moral guide for Christians around the world yet many of these guidelines are questionable at best and some represent atrocities. For instance in Exodus 22,29 ("Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors: the firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto me") the Christian God demands that the first born of each family be sacrificed to him. Other forms of questionable behaviour are encouraged or rewarded such as rape, slavery, beatings and self-mutilation etc.
"Now as they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about, and beat at the door, and spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him. And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto them, Nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into mine house, do not this folly. Behold, here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not so vile a thing. But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go. Then came the woman in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man's house where her lord was, till it was light. And her lord rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way: and, behold, the woman his concubine was fallen down at the door of the house, and her hands were upon the threshold. And he said unto her, Up, and let us be going. But none answered. Then the man took her up upon an ass, and the man rose up, and gat him unto his place. And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, together with her bones, into twelve pieces, and sent her into all the coasts of Israel."
Judges 19, 22-29
In this passage a group of men beat on the door of an old man's house demanding that he turn over a male houseguest but the old man offers his virgin daughter and his guest's concubine (or wife). The man's concubine is ravished and, apparently, dies. The man then cuts her body into twelve pieces and sends one piece to each of the twelve tribes of Israel.
The Bible is an amazing book but there is no hard evidence to indicate it is divinely inspired (and much to imply that it is not) nor is it historically any more accurate than any story set against known events of the time and it is debatable whether those events were "recognised" with hindsight. The bible does not appear to be capable of acting as a moral guide except to those who view it through some kind of rose tinted glasses however (a plus point) it does have animals that talk and in this respect is much reminiscent of the somewhat better written "Dr. Dolittle" adventures by Hugh Lofting.
Creationists (among others) claim that the Christian God is an all powerful, divine entity that watches over us and permeates ever aspect of our lives. To my knowledge there are no reliable instances of such an entity being seen, heard, touched or smelt. It is not possible to design an experiment to test for its existence nor is it possible to set up a test to disprove its existence. Yet, as far as can be evinced, ordinary men or women wrote the bible and there is nothing to indicate that any other being (deity or otherwise) was involved. There is no evidence to support the existence of the Christian God nor any supernatural entity of this kind.
From the above the following conclusions can be drawn:
Despite plentiful evidence to the contrary creation scientists continue to claim that the Earth is young (6 to 7 thousand years), that dinosaurs walked with man, that the Noahic flood created the fossil record in its entirety and many, many other lies. The key issue is that of evolution ... science does not normally pose a threat to creationism but evolution opposes the fundamental beliefs of creationism ... i.e. that the Earth, the universe and everything was created divinely as stated in the Bible. Despite relentless attacks on it since it was first published in 1859, Charles Darwin's "Theory of Evolution" has resisted all of the many attempts to defeat it. That evolution occurs has been demonstrated and continues to be demonstrated i.e. evolution, as a theory, has been proven beyond reasonable doubt.
Unlike creationists, scientists believe that nothing is absolutely certain ... according to J. J. Muller "nothing whatever can be or has been proved with fully 100% certainty, not even that you or I exist, nor anyone except himself". But such arguments are more philosophical than not ... we are forced to assume that evidence discernible to our own senses is actual and that the things we observe around us are real.
To quote Theodosius Dobzhansky (1973): "Evolution as a process that has always gone on in the history of the earth can be doubted only by those who are ignorant of the evidence or are resistant to evidence, owing to emotional blocks or to plain bigotry"
| 3500-2800 | Prokaryotic cell organisms develop and photosynthesis begins. Oxygen is released, strengthening the ozone layer and changing the Earth's atmosphere from a reducing on to an oxidising one. |
| 2400-1600 | The concentration of oxygen increases and the last reserves of reduced iron are oxidised. |
| 1500-600 | The first Eukaryotic cell organisms develop and the first multi-cellular organisms develop. |
| 580-515 | Fossils of Ediacaran organisms, the Chengjiang site, the Burgess Shale are laid down. |
| 500-450 | The rise of the fish and the appearance of the first vertebrates |
| 420 | The first land animals (millipedes) evolve. |
| 375 | The appearance of primitive sharks, primitive insects, primitive ferns and the rise of the amphibians |
| 300-200 | Appearance of winged insects, beetles, roaches, modern ferns, bees, and the rise of the reptiles (primitive crocodiles evolve). Pangaea (the first continent) starts to break apart and the first mammals appear. |
| 145-100 | Archaeopteryx. Primitive kangaroos and cranes evolve. |
| 90 | Modern sharks evolve. |
| 65 | Extinction of the dinosaurs and beginning of the reign of mammals |
| 60-50 | Rats, mice, squirrels, herons, storks, rabbits, hares, primitive monkeys and koalas evolve |
| 20 million | *The chimpanzee and hominid lines evolve |
| 10 million | *Ramapithecus |
| 4 million | Hominid bipedalism and Australopithecus (Lucy) |
| 2 million | Widespread use of stone tools |
| 2-0.01 million | Most recent ice age |
| 1.6 million | Homo erectus and tames fire |
| 300 thousand | Geminga supernova explosion at a distance of roughly 60 parsecs (roughly as bright as the Moon). |
| 200 thousand | Homo sapiens neanderthalensis (Neanderthal Man) |
| 50/40 thousand | Homo sapiens sapiens, enter Australia from south-eastern Asia and North America from north-eastern Asia |
| 25 thousand | Most recent glaciation--an ice sheet covers much of the northern United States |
| 20 thousand | Homo sapiens sapiens paint the Altamira Cave |
| 10 thousand | First permanent Homo sapiens sapiens settlements, learn to use fire to cast copper and harden pottery |
| 6 thousand | Writing is developed in Sumeria |
The fact that A.ramapithecus has since been demonstrated to be closer (biochemical) to the orang-utan has slightly changed our view of the above time-scale. Australopithecus ramapithecus is now considered to be a pre-hominid species.