Intelligent Design Part Three

The theory of “intelligent-design” (ID) is based on a faulty understanding of evolution. ID proponents are Christian evangelicals and fundamentalists who claim that man and other species did not evolve according to Darwin’s theory of natural selection. They were designed by an “intelligent” designer (namely God). Scientists know that the descent of man and other species was not the result of any kind of design. They know that evolution is a haphazard process that takes place over millions of years. It is the result of a slow series of accidents by which most species are extinguished and only certain species survive.

Natural selection is the process by which individual organisms with favorable traits are more likely to survive and reproduce. How does this transformation over eons of time take place? The equation involves, among other things, mutation, sexual selection, and adaptation. Sexual selection is the choice of mates made by individual members of a species. Peahens chose peacocks with the biggest, brightest tails. This led to the species of peacocks we see today with such gaudy large tails.

Mutation is one of the chief means by which new species are developed. The genes which govern all of our traits, all of our features, and by which all living things inherit all of their traits and features, are subject to mutation. Genes are made-up of DNA molecules. Mutations are changes that take place in the molecules and lead to changes in the offspring of the organism. The DNA molecule is structured like a ladder twisting around on itself in a double helix. Each rung of the ladder is made-up of a chemical called a “nucleotide.” The sequence of chemicals on the ladder is what makes the DNA molecule what it is. Change one rung on the ladder and you can change the entire molecule. The result can be a drastic change in the offspring of the organism. The change in the DNA molecule is called a mutation.

Mutations in the DNA molecules have many causes, not all of them known. DNA molecules are affected by ultra violet radiation from the sun, nuclear reactions, plants, gasses, combustion, smoke, toxic wastes, products of industry, and other causes. No designer designs mutations. They are pure accidents.

Mutations are completely random. We know that because most mutations are harmful. During the history of Earth, mutations have resulted in the massive dying-out of billions of living organisms and the survival of only a few.

Over ninety percent of all animals and plants that ever lived are now extinct. Mutations in humans are almost always harmful. Why would God design mutations so as to kill off most plants, animals, and other living things? Once in a blue moon a mutation is advantageous and confers some survival benefit.

You cannot expect to see evolution taking place before your eyes. It occurs very gradually over millions of years. However, there is one example where it seems to have happened over a period of hundreds of years rather than millions. Biologists frequently cite the case of the Biston Betularia moths. Studies indicate that although the moths were originally light-colored, every so often a moth would experience a mutation to a darker color. Such mutation did not confer any advantage until the Industrial Revolution occurred and the smokestacks in England darkened the trees. The result was an advantage for the darker moths, and as a result, a whole population of moths evolved that was black.

New species develop when populations becomes separated or isolated from parent populations. Populations can be isolated by water, mountains, deserts, and other terrain barriers. Consider the fact that the animals in Australia are dramatically different from the animals on the mainland of Europe/Asia. Why? Did God deliberately design kangaroos and koala bears to be so different from animals on any other continent? About 95 percent of the mammals, 70 percent of the birds, and 88 percent of the reptiles in Australia are found nowhere else in the world.

Darwin found that mockingbirds had migrated from the mainland of South America to the Galapagos Islands. Because of the isolation of the birds that landed on the islands, the one species of mockingbirds developed into three different new species, all descended from the original mainland mockingbirds. Why three species of mockingbird?

More than one species of mockingbird developed because there were many islands in the Galapagos, and the birds migrated to different islands. There they faced different environments and food sources, and where mutations made it possible, some of them adapted to the local conditions. The special adaptations they followed are called “niches,” and the birds developed different beaks, bills, tongues, legs, claws, sense organs, digestive organs and other structures and behaviors depending on the niche. This did not happen overnight. It took eons of time and was not accomplished by an “intelligent” designer.