The search for knowledge about the origin of humanity is as old as its inhabitants. Since the early 1800’s mankind has narrowed the debate to creation by a Supreme Being and the theory of evolution. Ever since then, science has been at odds against religion. Now it appears that science is returning to religion. Scientists are finding proof that the universe was created by a Supreme Being. The word evolution refers to the change of something over a period of time(Webster’s 634).
In biology, the theory of evolution is “the complex of processes by which living organisms originated on earth and have been diversified and modified hrough sustained changes in form and function”(Valentine). This theory proposes that between 4 million and 10 million years ago, all organisms on earth had a common ancestor and that through a process of evolution, all living organisms descended from this common ancestor(Coyne).
Chevalier de Lamarck, a French naturalist proposed a theory of evolution in 1809. His idea did not get much scientific consideration until Charles R. Darwin announced his theory of evolution(Coyne). Darwin published “his most famous book, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection”(Valentine) in 1859. Darwin tated that offspring resemble their parents, yet they are not exactly identical to them. He also noted that some of these differences were not effects of their environment, but actually were passed down from parents to children(Valentine). Darwin is the most well known scientist to write on evolution. There are many different variations on the theory of evolution.
Darwin states that natural selection is the main reason for the evolution of life. The fight for food, water and other necessities benefits those creatures who are well adapted for the struggle. Those that cannot survive, die with no offspring to continue their enetic line. Natural selection is also called survival of the fittest. Another related idea to evolution is gradualism. “Gradualism is the idea that evolutionary changes do not occur suddenly but over large amounts of time, ranging from decades to millions of years”(Coyne).
Genetic drift is another way that scientists define evolution. When two of a species mate, their offspring gets 23 chromosomes from both parents. When a gene does not split and combine correctly, a mutation occurs. This mutation will get passed down from the creature to its offspring. In this way a species can permanently be changed(Coyne). Scientists who have accepted the general theory of evolution as fact disagree among themselves about the ratio of importance between natural selection and genetic drift. They also disagree about what caused the apparent gaps in fossil layers.
New species “abruptly”(Valentine) appear in the fossil record with no apparent mutation from another species, then remain unchanged for long periods of time. They do not seem to exhibit the gradual changes that would be expected by modern evolutionists(Valentine). Many people, including those in the scientific community, do not accept the theory of evolution as fact. When Darwin was live, his theory was attacked by many scientists and religious leaders(Coyne). In the 1900’s, United States public high schools began teaching evolution in science classes.
By the 1920’s, laws in twenty states to ban the teaching of evolution in public schools had been proposed by people who did not want their children being indoctrinated. “They considered the teaching of the theory to be part of a dangerous trend toward the separation of religious beliefs from everyday life”(Coyne). Several of the proposed laws were passed into effect in states including Arkansas and Tennessee. “The ACLU challenged the Tennessee law in 925 by defending a teacher named John T. Scopes, who had volunteered to stand trial on the charge of teaching evolution”(Coyne).
The ACLU lost the case but because of bad press, creationists appeared ignorant to science. However, in 1968 the Supreme Court of the United States “ruled that laws banning the teaching of evolution were unconstitutional because they made religious considerations part of the curriculum”(Coyne). The courts continue to give rulings on creation and evolution in schools, some have come as recently as 1987(Coyne). The fight to keep evolution out of the classroom is still persevering. Those who are pushing to keep evolution out of the public schools are primarily creationists.
Creation is the belief that a Supreme Being created the universe and all its contents from nothing(Vawter). Many different people have believed different stories of how and why this was accomplished. Judaism, Christianity and Islam are a few of the major faiths that teach Creation. There are many differences in what different people believe. Many Jews and Christians with a literal interpretation of the Bible or the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, believe that God created the universe and all that s in it in six 24 hour days. They believe that each species on earth has remained relatively the same since the Creation.
These people “base their beliefs on the Bible”(Eve) and some use fossil evidence of long consistencies and abrupt changes(Valentine). Others believe that God created everything, but not in six days. Still others believe that God created the universe by lighting the fuse: the big bang was God’s way of creating the universe. Many people have gone in search for proof that the universe was created by a Supreme Being. The case for Intelligent Design was argued by Reverend William Paley of Carlisle, England in is 1802 book Natural Theology. Take, for instance, a rock and a watch. How old are the two objects?
The rock has “remained more or less the same perhaps since the earth was formed”(Miller 24). The watch is different because of the intricate gears, springs and parts. It was produced with a specific design and knowledge of the watchmaker, and watchmakers have not been around forever. Paley knew “there cannot be design without a designer; contrivance without a contriver…. The marks of design are too strong to be got over. Design must have had a designer. That designer must have been a person. That person is God”(Miller). Paley’s examples are understandable examples that form “a line of reasoning known as the ‘argument from design'”(Miller).
Even some evolutionists have come to realize that humanity is not an accident, even if they disagree with the six, 24 hour days belief. The Anthropic Principle is based on so called “technical observations about the evolution of the universe since the Big Bang”(Glynn 28). This principle has concluded that not only was the creation of the universe not an accident, but “the existence of human life is something for which the entire universe appears to have been intricately fine-tuned from the start”(28). This principle is based on universal constants such as Planck’s constant and the gravitational constant.
It started out as a list of coincidences, but as the list grew the more it appeared as if the universe had been designed for humanity to exist(29). The second law of thermodynamics has been extensively studied by scientists and people as another proof of creation. The second law of thermodynamics can be stated: “The thermodynamic principle which governs the behavior of systems is that, as they are moved away from equilibrium, they will utilize all avenues available to counter the applied gradients. As the applied gradients increase, so does the system’s ability to oppose further movement from equilibrium”(Schneider 30).
In every system, the entropy, or disorder, will increase, not decrease. This is one of a number of different analogies to simplify this law. There is a box with ten equal compartments. Ten thousand marbles are released into one compartment. If the box is randomly shaken, it is expected that the marbles would pass through the open doors in each compartment and there would be approximately 1000 marbles in each compartment. It is highly improbable, yet not impossible that if the box continued to be shaken andomly, that all the marbles would go back into the same compartment they started in(28).
The second law of thermodynamics is an excellent argument for creation. Creationists stand in “awe of the perfection of the earth… If it were a little farther away from the sun the entire planet would be one gigantic Antarctica; if it were a little closer, it would be one continuous Sahara Desert. Earth’s placement is precise; and that, my friends, is not a result of chance”(Limbaugh 154). There are infinite numbers of variables. If one were changed just slightly, like the distance from the sun, Earth would e unhabitable and humans would not exist. This preciseness leads these people to use the second law of thermodynamics as an argument.
An ordered world like Earth could not exist in a universe that was created by an explosion. Humanity itself is a good example for creation. The differences between other animals in nature and humans are vast. However, many evolutionists claim that we are animals ourselves. Jonathan Swift shows the absurdity of this comparison in the fourth book of Gulliver’s Travels. Guliver is living between two extremes: the reason based Houyhnhms and the savage Yahoos. Gulliver tries o hard to fit in with the Houyhnhms, or horses. They “conclude that Gulliver ‘must be a perfect Yahoo'”(Suits 116), yet Gulliver believes that he is more Houyhnhm.
This struggle can represent the origin struggle. The evolutionists say that humans were once like the Yahoos, but by saying that humanity evolved because of an haphazard accident, they are claiming that humans are now the superior being in the universe. They claim we are like the Houyhnhms(Sagan). Humans are not like that. The Houyhnhms are divorced of passion. “They have no shame, no temptations, no conception of sin”(Williams 62). Marriage is “‘one f the necessary actions in a reasonable being'”(63). These definitely do not identify humanity. Gulliver “understands none of this”(72).
Humans have the ability to use reason and humans have certain inherent desires that cannot be reasonably explained: love, marriage, and a sense of right and wrong. Still the debate continues. It seems “the double standard at work here is breathtaking”(Glynn 32). Scientists who believe in evolution are free to use detailed accounts of what happened 4 billion years ago and base it on Darwin(Sagan). “But the moment scientists begin marshalling rather considerable and persuasive vidence for the opposite case, their speculation risks being branded by colleagues as ‘unscientific'”(Glynn 32).
This parallels the third book of Gulliver’s Travels. The ways of the respected Laputan people were very precise, according to Gulliver. All their wise men reject what seems obviously the best way preform a task(Williams 49). Member of the Academy are seen trying to weave with spider web and make ice into gunpowder(Swift 196). Such acts of stupidity are Swift’s attack on the Royal Society of England in Swift’s time; however the apply perfectly to many of the scientists who reject what hey do not want to see.
The argument about the origin of the universe will definitely continue. There will be those who argue both sides until this world comes to its end. To what extent people believe the Biblical teachings or what some scientists teach is a personal decision. Darwin concluded his book: “There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful