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THE ORIGINS OF LIFE & ITS FORMS
For all of recorded time, humans appear to have wondered where they came from and why things happen as they do. In ancient times, myths about the origins of the universe and life became important features of the religions that developed all over the world. Later, with the findings of Charles Darwin and others, many have come to realize that our origins were based on natural causes and not on mystical supernatural forces.
Yet, a huge number of persons in the world still subscribe to the ancient mythologies and lately, considerable effort has gone into trying to prove that the ancient mythologies are in fact based on scientifically verifiable facts.
In this section, we will look first at the very origins of life, then at evolution and finally at the various religious beliefs from a scientific standpoint. The beliefs of the various religions viewed from their nonscientific perspectives will be covered in the appropriate sections of the "Beliefs" pages.
Needless to say, I am squarely in the evolution camp. For many years, everything that I read and to which I listened pointed to evolution as the process that brought us to the point we are today. Lately, I have read much on Christian creation theories and Intelligent Design and have not been pursuaded differently!
ORIGINS OF LIFE - THE VERY BEGINNING
Most science educators will tell you that the orgins of life and evolution are two different subjects. In other words, evolution does not show how life - the original cell or cells - began. I agree to a certain extent and am, therefore, setting out this separate category for the origin of life. Evolution, especially since we now know about DNA, explains how cells can change over time to create new and different life forms. It is a separate question from how the essential elements of cells originally came together to form reproducing and otherwise workable cells. I will enlarge on this later, but it is my belief that both processes are fundamentally the interaction of chemicals in an undirected and random manner, based upon scientific principles and not on the intervention of a creator or intelligent designer. Life is a chemical chain reaction that began long ago and has not stopped - so far!
While we know a fair amount about evolution, we know less about the orgin of life. Some religious fundamentalists are willing to accept some aspects of evolution. Most, however, will say that a cell is irreduceably complex and could have never arisen except by the intervention of an intelligent designer (see below). For an up-to-date analysis of the origins of life, click here for an article on the Public Library of Science web site.
ORIGINS OF SPECIES - EVOLUTION
Evolution, in biology, is a complex process by which the characteristics of living organisms change on account of genetic mutations and natural selection. Those changes are then passed from one generation to the next. Occasionally, the number of changes becomes so numerous that the evolved entities are so distinct from the ancestral entity that they can be considered a separate species or develop into whole new genera, families, orders, classes, etc. To date, scientists have found only natural causes for these changes.
The overwhelming majority of scientists accept the theory of evolution. They do not contend that the process of evolution is completely understood or explains the origins of life as there remains many unanswered questions.
Granted, nature seems not to have produced any new complicated species lately, but the process is clearly there. Medical science is constantly dealing with viruses that mutate making vaccines and old antibiotics useless. Insects become tolerant of chemicals that once controlled them. Birth defects are mutations that do not work – a birth defect that improved the human would be evolution.
For every step forward in evolution, there have been thousands, perhaps millions, of steps backwards or sideways. One should not expect the evolutionary process to always produce an advancement!
RELIGIOUS BELIEFS
Nearly every religion has some sort of story as to how life came into being. One problem with dealing with this issue separate from the cosmological stories of those religions is that each religion generally has one story which encompasses both the origins of the universe and the origins of life. Reality is that those two events have quite distinct etiologies and are separated by billions of years. Since creationism and intelligent design are most important in the United States, I will start with those subjects and add other religious beliefs later. Also, as stated above, I will attempt in this section to restrict my analysis to whatever scientific aspects there are to these religious beliefs. The nonscientific aspects of these beliefs will be considered in the "Beliefs" section.
Creation Science
Creation Science is an attempt to prove that the creation stories in the Bible, particularly in Genesis, can be scientifically proved. I will have more on this later, but there are at least three sources that should be mentioned.
One important source for this theory is The Genesis Flood, a book by John C. Whitcomb and Henry M. Morris that was originally published in 1961. The popularity of the book is often cited as the event that brought creationism back to life as a cause. The book attempts to prove through scripture, geology, archaeology and hydrolics how the flood set out in Genesis actually happened.
An important organization in the Creation Science movement is the Institute for Creation Research. In January, 2006, the following statement was found on their home page: "We believe God has raised up ICR to spearhead Biblical Christianity's defense against the godless and compromising dogma of evolutionary humanism. Only by showing the scientific bankruptcy of evolution, while exalting Christ and the Bible, will Christians be successful in “the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (II Corinthians 10:4,5). You can go to their web site for more information.
Another Creation Science web site of interest is Answers in Genesis.
It should be pointed out immediately that all of these sources assume the inerrancy of the Bible and there is a definite attempt on their part to make the science fit the Biblical stories. This method is entirely contrary to any respectable scientific method and is prone to reach incorrect conclusions. Once again, I will have more on this later!
Intelligent Design
Intelligent design (ID) is an assertion that certain features of the universe and of living things exhibit characteristics of having been intelligently caused or designed by an intelligent agent. ID proponents challenge and often deny the validity of evolution. They find unanswered questions in science and without any proof, assume that those questions can be solved by injecting the actions of their intelligent designer. While they often deny knowledge of the specific identity of the intelligent designer, it is clear from their rhetoric that they believe it to be whatever god it is in which they believe. Most scientists, on the other hand, contend that a designer is not subject to empirical evidence; and, therefore, ID fails to qualify as a scientific theory. ID fails to take into account that no scientific question, once solved, has ever been explained other than on the basis of naturally occurring phenomena.
Very very few scientists agree with the assertions of ID proponents.
For a more detailed criticism of the concept of ID, I recommend that you read an article posted on the Community of Reason web site by Dr. Ronald Pine. Click here for the article.
Other Beliefs
Until such time as I have time to work on this section, I would recommend an article found on Wikipedia which surveys the various religious beliefs as to the origins of the universe and of life. Click here for the article.