Evidence vs. Dogma Analysis - Essay Example

They continue to advocate the Biblical version of events, that an alien being of undetermined construction and origin made not only the earth and everything on it but the entire universe too. Eventually, society will universally embrace evolution as a fact but, as life itself does, society evolves slowly.

People who, despite all evidence to the contrary, continue to “believe” that God, as described in the Bible, Koran and/or Torah, created everything in the universe are described as “creationists”, and the pseudo-science they ascribe to is called “creationism.” Creationism attempts to offer evidence to support superstitious beliefs by challenging scientific theory. Creationists claim that evolution has not been conclusively proven, that it’s just “a theory”. Creationists require a higher standard of verification from scientists than they are willing to offer for creation. Scientists are asked to satisfy all questions, whether realistic or not, about the origin of life. It’s an impossible task to answer with certainty the question “how we got here” unless one accepts the Biblical version of events which is all the evidence they need. Due to the strongly held religious convictions of Christians, the science of evolution has been held to a higher level of proof than creation or any other area of science. For example, gravity is unanimously accepted as true even though the mechanics of its effects remains just a theory no more positively proved than evolution. “Science constantly postulates the existence of theoretical forces and entities that are not directly observable. No one has ever actually seen an atom. No one has ever directly observed either electricity or gravity. To even suggest that science cannot deal with unobservable is to display an ignorance of the nature of the scientific enterprise” (Albert, 1986).

Scientists can track the ancestry of living things by comparing similar traits and gene mapping techniques. Evolutionists utilize this scientifically sound method, and it has been conclusively demonstrated that human’s nearest relatives are chimpanzees. Genetically speaking, in addition to physically observable similarities, activities such as tool making and similar social structures, the different types of primates, chimps and people are very similar, too much so for it to be just a coincidence. “Biologists can cite many instances of parallel evolution in which forms that are only distantly related have developed similarities in structure—for example, the almost identical structures of human and octopus eyes” (Albert, 1986).

Darwin theorized that animals physically acclimate to new surrounding over millions of years, a process which he called natural selection. Since Darwin’s lifetime, scientists have also been pointing to mutation as a method of evolution that can be employed in conjunction with Darwin’s theory. On his historic journey to the Galapagos Islands located about 600 miles off the western South American coast, Darwin carefully documented tangible verification for his evolutionary theory. There are 13 islands of the Galapagos chain, all located relatively together, yet they are greatly different geographically, some had tropical-like conditions, others resembled a desert, some rocky, some sandy, for example.  Darwin observed clear physical variations within the same species which had adapted to cope with the different environments on different islands. Over time one species evolved into new types of species. Darwin observed 13 species of finches which, very likely, were the descendants of one South American species. “What intrigues biologists about the finches of the Galapagos is the variety between populations of different islands, particularly how the beak structure and feeding habits differ, suggesting adaptation to specific environments” (Jackson, 1998).