Chinese Communism (1950-). When the communists took control of China in 1950, the first new text introduced into all the schools was neither Marxist nor Leninist, but Darwinian. Chinese communist leaders eagerly grasped evolutionary theory as a basic foundation for their ideology. The government established the Paleontological Institute in Beijing, with a large staff of paleontologists, dedicated to proving evolution.
*Sir Julian S. Huxley (1887-1975). Grandson of *Darwin’s "bulldog" (*Thomas Huxley), *Julian Huxley was the leading spokesman for evolution by natural selection in the mid-20th century. Upon being named the first director-general of UNESCO, he was able to make evolution the keystone of United Nations scientific policy. He saw it as his opportunity to extend evolutionary thinking to the nations of the world; and he made the most of it (*Julian Huxley, UNESCO pamphlet).
Piltdown Skull Debunked (1953). This piece of skull and separate jaw was the only clear evidence that man was descended from an apelike creature. In 1953, *Kenneth Oakley (British Museum geologist), *Joseph Weiner (Oxford University anthropologist), and *Le Gros Clark (anatomy professor at Oxford) managed to get their hands on the Piltdown skull and jaw—and proved it to be a total forgery. The newly developed fluorine test revealed the bones to be quite recent. Additional research showed the bones had been stained with bichromate, to make them appear aged. Drillings into the bone produced shavings instead of ancient powder. The canine tooth was found to have been filed and stained. Weiner published a book about the Piltdown forgery in 1955 (*William L. Straus, Jr., "The Great Piltdown Hoax," Science, February 26, 1954; *Robert Silverberg, Scientists and Scoundrels: A Book of Hoaxes, 1965).
Amino Acid Synthesis (1953). When *Stanley Miller produced a few amino acids from chemicals, amid a continuous small sparking apparatus, newspaper headlines proclaimed: "Life has been created!" But evolutionists hid the truth: The experiment had disproved the possibility that evolution could occur.
The amino acids were totally dead, and the experiment only proved that a synthetic production of them would result in equal amounts of left- and right-handed amino acids. Since only left-handed ones exist in animals, accidental production could never produce a living creature (*R. Milner, Encyclopedia of Evolution, 1990, p. 274).
Discovery of DNA(1953). *Rosiland Franklin took some special photographs which were used in 1953 by *Francis Crick and *James Watson (without giving her credit), to develop the astounding helix model of the DNA molecule. DNA has crushed the hopes of biological evolutionists; for it provides clear evidence that every species is locked into its own coding pattern. It would be impossible for one species to change into another, since the genes network together so closely. It is a combination lock, and it is shut tight. Only sub-species variations can occur (varieties in plants, and breeds in animals). This is done through gene shuffling (*A.I. Oparin, Life: Its Nature, Origin and Development, 1961, p. 31; *Hubert P. Yockey, "A Calculation of Probability of Spontaneous Biogenesis by Information Theory," Journal of Theoretical Biology, Vol. 67, 1977, p. 398).
The odds of accidentally producing the correct DNA code in a species or changing it into another viable species are mathematically impossible. This has repeatedly been established. (*J. Leslie, "Cosmology, Probability, and the Need to Explain Life," in Scientific American and Understanding, pp. 53, 64-65; *E. Ambrose, Nature and Origin of the Biological World, 1982, p. 135).
Five Polls about Evolution (1954). (1) The general public supports the teaching of creation in public schools, not just evolution, by a massive majority of 86% to 8% (AP-NBC News poll). (2) A national poll of attorneys agree (56% to 26%) and find dual instruction constitutional (63% to 26%, American Bar Association-commissioned poll). (3) A majority of university students at two secular colleges also agree (80% at Ohio State, 56% at Oberlin, Fuerst, Zimmerman). (4) Two-thirds of public school board members agree (67% to 25%, American School Board Journal poll). (5) A substantial minority of public school teachers favor creation over evolution (Austin Analytical Consulting poll; source: W.R. Bird, Origin of Species Revisited, 1954, p. 8).
Courville’s Research (1956). After 15 years of careful research, Donovan A. Courville, a Loma Linda University biochemist, published an important book, Exodus Problem and Its Ramifications. Courville correlated ancient Egyptian and Bible events and dates, providing us with one of the best ancient chronologies available. He showed that Manetho’s king-lists overlapped, resulting in a major reduction in the duration of Egypt’s dynastic history and a placement of its first double-ruler dynasty at around 2150 B.C. This study, along with others reviewed in chapter 21, Archaeological Dating, shows that archaeological dating does indeed correlate closely with Bible history. (Due to a lack of space, as we neared publishing time we had to omit most of this chapter; but it is on our website.)
*Thompson’s Attack on *Darwin (1956). W.R. Thompson, a leading evolutionary scientist, was asked to write the Introduction to the 1956 reprint edition of Darwin’s Origin of the Species. In it, Thompson scathingly attacked Darwin’s theories on every essential point as worthless (*W.R. Thompson, Introduction to Charles Darwin, Origin of the Species, 1956 edition).
Children’s Books (1958). While evolutionists secretly recognize that their theory is falling through the floor, to the gullible public it is praised more and more as the scientifically proven answer to the mystery of life and matter. In 1958, the Wonderful Egg was published and immediately recommended by the *American Association for the Advancement of Science as a worthwhile science guide for little children. Two major NEA affiliates (the *American Council on Education and the *Association for Childhood Education International) gave it their highest recommendation. The book tells about a mother dinosaur who laid a "wonderful egg" which hatched into a baby bird—"the first baby bird in the whole world! And the baby bird grew up . . with feathers . . the first beautiful bird that ever sang a song high in the tree tops . . of long, long ago" (quoted in H. Morris and G. Parker, What is Creation Science? p. 148).
Geoscience Research Institute (1958). This creationist organization (GRI), now located in Loma Linda, California, was organized specifically to carry on research work, in the area of creationism, and produce educational materials for scientists and science teachers.
Darwinian Centennial Celebration (1959). As the year 1959 approached, evolutionists saw it as a splendid opportunity to ballyhoo the glories of evolutionary theory. As the 100th anniversary of Darwin’s Origin of the Species approached, a flood of books and articles appeared. The largest meeting was held at the University of Chicago, where *Julian Huxley gave the keynote address, focusing his attention on a triumphant, total repudiation of God.
The same year, two major books attacking evolutionary theory in great detail were released: The first was *Gertrude Himmelfarb’s Darwin and the Darwinian Revolution. Holding a doctorate from the University of Chicago, her book was a powerful exposé on the havoc the theory has wrought on the modern world. The second in-depth book was by *Jacques Barzun, history professor and dean of the Graduate Faculties at Columbia University. His book, Darwin, Marx, Wagner, declared that evolutionary theory was directly responsible for European wars from 1870 to 1945.
Biological Sciences Curriculum (1959). Another significant event that year was the establishment of a standardized Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) for public secondary schools. The stated objective was the teaching of evolution, sex education, racial problems, and the need for legalizing abortion (*A.B. Grobman, Biological Science: An Inquiry into Life, p. xv). BSCS quickly received a $7 million grant from the National Science Foundation, to develop this new series.
Shortly afterward, a second major textbook revision project, Man: A Course of Study, was given $7 million by the National Science Foundation. It was filled with humanism and morally objectionable interpretations of personal and social life.
Revolt in France (early 1960s). A large number of French biologists and taxonomists (species classification experts) rebelled against the chains of the evolutionary creed and declared that they would continue their research, but would no longer try to prove evolution—which they considered an impossible theory. Taxonomists who joined the revolt took the name "cladists" (*Z. Litynski, "Should We Burn Darwin?" in Science Digest, Vol. 51, January 1961, p. 61).
First Quasar Discovered(1962). Telescopes found a mysterious object, named 3C273, which had a spectrum that was unintelligible. This peculiar object radiated most strongly in the fringes of the visible spectrum. It was a total mystery until February 1963, when *Jesse Schmidt recognized that the problem was that it had a radical 16% shift toward the red. If the speed theory of redshift, promoted by evolutionists, was correct,—that meant the object was moving away from us at 16% of the speed of light—and was a massive 3 billion light-years from earth!
As more—and apparently "faster"—quasars were discovered, the situation kept worsening. Ultimately, their existence debunked the evolutionists’ speed theory of redshift. Yet the redshift and background radiation were the only two "evidences" of an earlier Big Bang! For example, in 1977, a quasar was found which, according to the redshift theory, was moving faster (eight times faster) than the speed of light! Of course, scientists know it is impossible for anything to travel faster than the speed of light (*George Abell, Exploration of the Universe, 1973, p. 409; *Time-Life, Cosmic Mysteries, 1990, pp. 68-69; *Sky and Telescope 53, 1977, p. 1702).
Creation Research Society (1963). This important creation research organization was founded by doctoral scientists, with the express purpose of conducting research into creation-evolution topics and publishing regular reports on them. Its Journal reports have been of a high scientific caliber. (See our website for address.)
Background Radiation (1965). Using a sensitive radio astronomy telescope, *A.A. Penzias and *R.W. Wilson (researchers at Bell Laboratories) discovered low-energy microwave radiation coming from outer space. Big Bang theorists immediately claimed that this proved the Big Bang! They said it was the last part of the explosion. But further research disclosed that it came from every direction instead of only one; that it was the wrong temperature; and that it was too even. Even discoveries in the 1990s have failed to show that this radiation is "lumpy" enough (their term) to have produced stars and planets.
Steady State Universe Theory Abandoned (1965). *Fred Hoyle abandoned his steady state theory entirely in a public announcement at a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. He listed five scientific reasons why it was impossible (Nature, October 9, 1965, p. 113). (See our website for the five.)
The Switzerland Meeting (1965). It was not until the 1960s that the neo-Darwinists (those who had given up on natural selection and believed that mutations were the mechanism of cross-species change) began fighting with one another in earnest. At this meeting of mathematicians and biologists, mathematical doubts were raised about the possibility of evolution having occurred. At the end of several hours of heated discussion, it was decided to hold another meeting the next year.
The Wistar Institute Symposium (1966). A milestone meeting was the four-day Wistar Institute Symposium, held in Philadelphia in April 1966. A number of mathematicians, familiar with biological problems, spoke—and clearly refuted neo-Darwinism in several ways. An important factor was that large computers were by this time able to work out immense calculations—showing that evolution could not possibly occur, even over a period of billions of years, given the complexities of DNA, protein, the cell, enzymes, and other factors.
We will cite one example here: *Murray Eden of MIT explained that life could not begin by "random selection." He noted that, if randomness is removed, only "design" would remain,—and that required purposive planning by an Intelligence. He showed that it would be impossible for even a single ordered pair of genes to be produced by DNA mutations in the bacteria, E. Coli (which has very little DNA), with 5 billion years in which to produce it. Eden then showed the mathematical impossibility of protein forming by chance. He also reported on his extensive investigations into genetic data on hemoglobin (red blood cells). Hemoglobin has two chains, called alpha and beta. A minimum of 120 mutations would be required to convert alpha to beta. At least 34 of those changes require changeovers in 2 or 3 nucleotides. Yet, Eden pointed out, if a single nucleotide change occurs through mutation, the result ruins the blood and kills the organism! For more on the Wistar Institute, read the following book: *Paul Moorhead and *Martin Kaplan (eds.), Mathematical Challenges to the Neo-Darwinian Interpretation of Evolution, Wistar Institute Monograph No. 5.
Antelope Springs Tracks (1968). Trilobites are small marine creatures that are now extinct. Evolutionists tell us that trilobites are one of the most ancient creatures that have ever lived on Planet Earth, and they lived millions of years before there were human beings. *William J. Meister, Sr., a non-Christian evolutionist, made a hobby of searching for trilobite fossils in the mountains of Utah. On June 1, 1968, he found a human footprint and trilobites in the same rock, and the footprint was stepping on some of the trilobites! The location was Antelope Springs, about 43 miles [69 km] northwest of Delta, Utah.
Then, breaking off a large two-inch thick piece of rock, he hit it on the edge with a hammer, and it fell open in his hands. To his great astonishment, he found on one side the footprint of a human being, with trilobites right in the footprint itself! The other half of the rock slab showed an almost perfect mold of a footprint and fossils. Amazingly, the human was wearing a sandal! To make a longer story short, the find was confirmed when scientists came and found more sandaled footprints. Meister was so stunned that he became a Christian. This was Cambrian strata, the lowest level of strata in the world; yet it had sandaled human footprints! ("Discovery of Trilobite Fossils in Shod Footprint of Human in ‘Trilobite Beds,’ a Cambrian Formation, Antelope, Springs, Utah," in Why Not Creation? 1970, p. 190).
The Alpbach Institute Symposium (1969). A follow-up meeting of scientists was held and given the title, "Beyond Reductionism." But it only resulted in fruitless discussions by scientists who had carefully researched the problems with men who were desperately trying to defend evolutionary theories, against an ever-growing mountain of evidence to the contrary.
First Moon Landing (1969). By the 1950s, scientists were able to predict that, if the moon was billions of years old, it would have a thick layer of dust many miles thick. This is due to the fact, as *R.A. Lyttleton explained, that the lunar surface is exposed to direct sunlight; and strong ultraviolet light and X-rays from the sun gradually destroying the surface layers of exposed rock, reduced them to dust at the rate of a few ten-thousandths of an inch per year. In 5 to 10 billion years, this would produce 20-60 miles [32-97 km] of dust (*R.A. Lyttleton, quoted in R. Wysong, Creation-Evolution Controversy, p. 175).
Because of this, NASA first sent an unmanned lander, which made the discovery that there is very little dust on the moon’s surface. In spite of that, Neil Armstrong feared that he and Edwin Aldrin might suffocate when they landed. But because the moon is young, they had no problem. Landing on July 20, 1969, they found an average of 3/4 of an inch [1.91cm] of dust on its surface. That is the amount one would expect if the moon were about 6000-8000 years old (at a rate of 1 inch every 10,000 years).
In *Isaac Asimov’s first published article (1958), he predicted that the first rocket to land on the moon would sink ingloriously in the dust, and everyone inside would perish (Article mentioned in *Isaac Asimov, Asimov on Science: A Thirty-Year Retrospective, 1989, pp. xvi-xvii).
Bone Inventory (1971). A complete listing of all the Australopithecine finds, up to the end of 1971, was printed in a new book. This included all the African bones of our "half-ape, half-human ancestors" (*Time-Life, The Missing Link, Vol. 2). Although over 1400 specimens are described, most are little more than scraps of bone or isolated teeth. Not one complete skeleton of one individual exists. When parts of bones are found, they, of course, can be moved into various positions and be interpreted as belonging to different creatures with very different skull and jaw shapes. To this day, there is no real evidence of any genuine non-human ancestor of ours. Chapter 13 explains why reputable scientists question or reject the various finds by anthropologists.
*Matthews Attacks Darwinism (1971). By the latter part of the 20th century, even though the ignorant public continued to be told that evolution was a triumphant, proven success, it was difficult to find any scientist who would defend Darwin’s theories before his peers. *L. Harrison Matthews, another distinguished scientist, was asked to write a new introduction to Darwin’s Origin of the Species, to replace *Thompson’s 1956 Introduction which scathingly attacked Darwinism. In his Introduction, Matthews said that Thompson’s attacks on Darwin were "unanswerable." Then Matthews proceeded to add more damaging facts (*L. Harrison Matthews, Introduction to Charles Darwin, Origin of the Species, 1971 edition). The evolutionary theory must have run into hard times, when book publishers cannot find a reputable scientist who is appreciative either of its basic teachings or its founder.
Nice Symposium (1972). By the early 1970s, not only were biological evolutionists in turmoil, but cosmologists (astronomical evolutionists) were also. The Nice Symposium met in April 1972, to summarize what had been accomplished and list what was still unknown. The unanswered questions included just about every aspect of evolution in outer space! (See "Nice" in the back index for a number of the questions.) How did hydrogen clouds form themselves into stars? How did linear momentum from the theorized Big Bang change itself into angular momentum—and begin circling. How did the planets and moons form? The entire list is mind-boggling. After all these years, the astronomers still do not have answers to any of the basic evolutionary problems (Review of the Nice Symposium, in R.E. Kofahl and K.L. Segraves, The Creation Explanation, pp. 141-143).
Institute for Creation Research (1972). Henry Morris and associates founded the Institute for Creation Research (ICR) this year. It has since become the leading anti-evolution organization in the world and is located in El Cajon, California.
Return of the Hopeful Monster (1972). *Stephen Jay Gould, a highly respected paleontologist at Harvard; *Niles Eldredge, the head paleontologist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City; and *Steven M. Stanley, of Johns Hopkins University, led out in resuscitating *Richard Goldschmidt’s "hopeful monster" theory—and demanding that the community of evolutionary scientists consider it as the only possible mechanism for trans-species changeovers.
It was first revived in a cautious science paper presented by *Gould and *Eldredge in 1972 (Punctuated Equilibria: An Alternative to Phyletic Gradualism, 1972), but it was not until 1977 that an article by Gould brought it back to center stage ("Return of the Hopeful Monsters," in Natural History, June-July, 1977). The increasing despondency among evolutionists, over their inability to use natural selection or mutations to provide even the slightest evidence of cross-species evolution, eventually led large numbers of scientists, in the 1980s, to switch over to this astoundingly ridiculous concept that millions of beneficial mutations occur once every 50,000 years to two creatures, a male and female, who are living near each other—thus producing a new species pair!
Poll of Citizens and Parents (1973). A survey of 1346 homes found that 89% said creation should be taught in the public schools. In a separate poll of 1995 homes, 84% said scientific evidence for creation should be presented along with evolution ("A Comparison of Students Studying . . Two Models," in Decade of Creation, 1981, pp. 55-56).
Dudley’s Radiodating Research (1975). Radiodating of the sedimentary rocks, based on uranium, thorium, and other chains, had been relied on heavily to provide the "millions of years" dates. But a broad variety of research data repeatedly demonstrated that these methods are extremely unreliable (much more on this in chapter 6, Inaccurate Dating Methods). *H.C. Dudley, one of these researchers, found that using pressure, temperature, electric and magnetic fields, stress in monomolecular layers, etc., he could change the decay rates of 14 different radioisotopes. The implications of this are astounding. The strata were laid down under great pressure, and samples would vary widely to temperature and other changes. Such discoveries, along with the fact that the dates never agree with one another, greatly reduce the value of radiodating uranium, thorium, and other rocks (*H.C. Dudley, "Radioactivity Re-Examined," in Chemical and Engineering News, April 7, 1975, p. 2).
*Leakey’s Footprints (1977). Throughout the 20th century, human footprints have been found in supposedly ancient rock, sometimes with dinosaur prints. We will mention only a couple examples in this chapter (see chapter 13, Ancient Man, for more). In approximately 1977, *Mary Leaky found at Laetoli in Africa, 30 miles [48 km] south of Olduvai Gorge, human footprints which, by the strata they are on, evolutionists date at nearly 4 million years in the past. Yet they are identical to modern human footprints. These and other footprints disprove evolutionary theories, especially those in which dinosaur prints are found with human footprints. Dinosaurs are said to be dated from 65 million to 135 million years ago; whereas man is said to have appeared far more recently (National Geographic, April 1979; Science News, February 9, 1980).
Plesiosaur Discovered (1977). Scientists have wondered for decades whether an "extinct" dinosaur would ever be found alive. Then, in April 1977, a Japanese fishing vessel caught a 4000 pound [1814 kg], 10 meter [33 yd] creature in its nets off the east coast of New Zealand. A qualified zoologist who was on board had photographed and examined it carefully and confirmed that, indeed, it was a plesiosaur, a sea-dwelling dinosaur which supposedly had been dead for 100 million years! They were so thrilled, that they published scientific papers on it and issued a postage stamp! But, recognizing that the creature would disprove their fossil/strata theory, Western scientists said it must have been a sea lion! There was an almost total news blackout on this in the West, with the exception of a few publications (*New York Times, July 24, 1977; Nature, July 28, 1977). (There is more data in chapter 12, Fossils and Strata; our website has pictures.)
Chinese Characters Explained (1979). Chinese is one of the most ancient written languages in existence. Each Chinese character is a combination of several different words. C.H. Kang and Ethel R. Nelson did extensive research into Chinese words and discovered the characters contain the story of Creation, the Garden of Eden, the fall of Adam and Eve, and the Flood story. For example, the word, "boat," is made up of two words: vessel and eight (Genesis 7:7; 13:8:13). Tempter is devil, cover, and tree (Genesis 3:1-6). In chapter 14, Effects of the Flood, will be found several more examples, plus an illustration of what some of them look like (C.H. Kang and Ethel R. Nelson, The Discovery of Genesis: How the Truths of Genesis Were Found Hidden in the Chinese Language, 1979).
Poll of University Students (1979). A poll of students at Bowling Green State University, Ohio, found a clear majority of both undergraduate and graduate students taking biology classes favored the teaching of both creation and evolution in the schools. Undergraduate students: 91%, graduate students: 71.8% (Jerry Bergman, "Attitude of University Students toward the Teaching of Creation and Evolution in the Schools, Origins, Vol. 6, 1979, pp. 64-66).
Polystrate Mystery Solved (1980). Upright (polystrate) tree trunks, 10-30 ft [31-95 dm] in length, have often been found in coal beds. Yet the coal beds were supposed to have been laid down over millions of years. Why are vertical tree trunks in them? Just after the Mount St. Helens explosion in May 1980, analysis of nearby Spirit Lake revealed many vertical, floating tree trunks in it. During the Flood, such tree trunks could easily have quickly been surrounded by sediments and buried (*Edward L. Hold, "Upright Trunks of Neocalamities form the Upper Triassic," Journal of Geology, 55:511-513, 1947; Steven A. Austin, "Mount St. Helens and Catastrophism," in Impact, July 1986, pp. 1-3).
Sunderland Interviews the Experts (1980-1981). Over a one-year period, and with their permission, Luther Sunderland tape-recorded interviews with three of the most important paleontologists in the world, who are in charge of at least 50 percent of the major fossil collections on the planet, covering every basic fossil discovery in the past 150 years. He found that not one of them could name a single missing link, a halfway species between our regular species (L.D. Sunderland, Darwin’s Enigma, p. 89). There are no transitional forms. For more on this, see chapter 12, Fossils and Strata.
Chicago Evolution Conference (1980). While the newspapers, popular magazines, and school textbooks emblazoned evolutionary theory as being essentially proven scientifically in so many ways, the evolutionary scientists were discouraged. They knew the truth. The Switzerland, Wistar, and Alpbach meetings had clearly shown that theirs was a losing cause. However, in yet another futile effort, in October 1980, 160 of the world’s leading evolutionary scientists met again, this time at the University of Chicago. In brief, it was a verbal explosion. Facts opposing evolution were presented, and angry retorts and insults were hurled in return. The following month, *Newsweek (November 3, 1980) reported that a large majority of evolutionists at the conference agreed that not even the neo-Darwinian mechanism (of mutations working with natural selection) could no longer be regarded as scientifically valid or tenable. Neither the origin nor diversity of living creatures could be explained by evolutionary theory (*Roger Lewin, "Evolutionary Theory Under Fire," in Science, November 21, 1980; *G.R. Taylor, Great Evolution Mystery, 1983, p. 55). Why is the public still told that evolution is essentially proven and all the scientists believe it,—when both claims are far from the truth?
New York City Evolution Conference (1981). The following year, another important meeting was held, this one at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. *Colin Patterson, senior paleontologist at the British Museum of Natural History, read a paper in which he declared that evolution was "positively anti-knowledge" and added, "All my life I had been duped into taking evolution as revealed truth." Yet Patterson is in charge of millions of fossil samples; and he is well-acquainted with the collection. Commenting on the crisis, another scientist, *Michael Ruse, wrote that the increasing number of critics included many with "the highest intellectual credentials" (*Michael Ruse, "Darwin’s Theory: An Exercise in Science," in New Scientist, June 25, 1981, p. 828).
Panspermia (1981). Amid the cries of desperation and despair arising from evolutionary scientists, one of the most famous scientists of the 20th century, a Nobel Prize winner, came up with a new theory. In 1981, *Francis Crick, the co-discoverer of the structure of the DNA molecule, published a book, declaring that "directed panspermia" was responsible for life on earth. According to this theory, people from another planet sent a rocket down here, with living creatures on it, in order to populate our planet! Crick admits that this does not explain how nearly all our plant and animal species came into existence. Nor does it explain the transportation problem. Centuries of travel through the cold of outer space would be required. This theory is a desperate, gasping effort to provide a solution to the question of how living creatures originated, a puzzle which thousands of scientists in 150 years of diligent work have not been able to solve. Very few intellectuals have accepted panspermia.
Cambridge Evolution Conference (1984). Desperate for a solution, at a 1984 seminar held at Cambridge University, *Stephen Gould’s "hopeful monster" theory was discussed (the wild idea that a lizard laid an egg, one day, and a bird hatched). *Karl Popper’s theory of science was also discussed. Popper is the leading expert on the philosophy of science. His position is that a theory must be testable. Evolution, of course, does not meet the test. (See chapter 37, Philosophy of History, on our website.)
Second Causal Changeover (1980s). The utterly unscientific "hopeless monster" theory, which *Richard Goldschmidt proposed in the 1930s, totally astounded the evolutionary world. Yet, as the years passed and a great mountain of evidence surfaced against both natural selection and mutations as mechanisms of cross-species change, the experts felt desperate. —There was nothing left but the theory of sudden, miraculous "million mutation," beneficial changes once every 50,000 years, which *Gould, *Stanley, and their associates were increasingly urging. Just as astronomers had, in desperation, accepted the ridiculous Big Bang explosion theory 20 years before as the cause of a universe of orderly galactic systems, so the biological evolutionists now went further out on their own evolutionary limb. Geneticists, biologists, and paleontologists recognized that the evolution of one species out of another was impossible otherwise. Evolutionists, in hopeless desperation, fled to an imagined "hopeful monster."
Answers in Genesis (1980s). Ken Ham started Answers in Genesis, a creationist organization now located in Florence, Kentucky. It has rapidly become a powerful voice in unveiling evolutionary errors in meetings on college and university campuses and elsewhere. For every one creationist organization now in operation, there ought to be a hundred. Why not start one yourself?
*Halton C. Arp Eliminated (1983). A leading astronomer and president of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific in the early 1980s, Arp carried on research for over 30 years, including extensive research time at Palomar and Mount Wilson Observatories. He studied over 260 galaxies in more than 80 groups and tabulated 24 main galaxies and 38 discordant redshift companions, plus much more. His studies clearly refuted the speed theory of redshift which, along with background radiation, was the crutch that evolutionists leaned on to defend the Big Bang (*Halton Arp, Quasars, Redshifts and Controversies, 1987, p. 5, plus many scientific articles). Threatened with disbarment from U.S. observatories, if he did not stop tearing down one of the two Big Bang pillars, he refused. A few eminent astronomers, including the renowned astrophysicist, *Geoffrey Burbidge, made impassioned pleas for everyone to keep an open mind, but to no avail. In 1983, Caltech’s telescope allocation committee decided that Arp’s line of research was not worthy of support and he was to receive no more time for his work at the telescopes of the Mount Wilson and Palomar observatories. Refusing to switch over to politically acceptable studies, he left Caltech for a position at the Max Planck Institute in Munich, where he continued to pursue his ideas. Referring to his abrupt and ignoble ouster, Burbidge later wrote, "No responsible scientist I know, including many astronomers who were strongly opposed to Arp’s thesis, believes justice was served" (*Time-Life, Cosmic Mysteries, 1990, pp. 67-68).
Orce Man Debunked (1984). Thrilling news! At last one of
our half-ape ancestors had been found in the Andalusia region of Spain. Certified as the "oldest man in Europe" by a distinguished team of paleontologists, it made the headlines as invitations were mailed to scientists throughout the continent to attend a meeting where they could deliver learned papers about the matter.
But then scientists in Paris discovered that it was a skull fragment of a four-month-old donkey. Spanish officials had to quickly mail 500 letters canceling the meeting ("Ass Taken for Man," *London Daily Telegraph, May 14, 1984).
Archaeopteryx Debunked (1985). Although no cross-species "missing links" (half of one species and half of another) had ever been found, something close to it had been discovered. As mentioned earlier, in 1861 a fossilized feather was found in the limestone deposits in Solnhofen, Germany (near Eichstatt). It was considered valuable since it reportedly came from the late Jurassic strata—and there were not supposed to be any birds back then. Soon another fossil was offered for sale (always from the owners of the same quarry). It was a bird with feathers, with the head and neck missing. The British Museum paid a lot for it. So, in 1877, another bird with feathers was offered for sale—and this one looked like it might have the head of a small dinosaur!
In 1985, six leading scientists, including *Fred Hoyle, examined the fossil—and found it to be a hoax. For details, see chapter 17, Evolutionary Showcase.
Arkansas Creation Trial (1981). In December 1981 at the Federal District Court in Little Rock, Arkansas, Judge William Overton presided over a trial to decide whether the State of Arkansas could place concepts about creation in public school textbooks. The courtroom of 200 was packed with reporters. The ACLU had over 50 lawyers and paralegals working on the case. In contrast, the Arkansas Attorney General’s office could only commit three of its attorneys to the case. One ACLU witness, *Francisco J. Ayala, testified that the origin of living creatures from dirt and water, though it occurred, was not part of evolution! That nicely took that evolutionary puzzle out of the court trial. At any rate, on the basis of a variety of dodges and misstatements by the plaintiffs, the judge ruled against Arkansas State. It is a known fact that the ACLU has advised every state legislature, considering enactment of a law permitting equal time for both views, that the ACLU will give them another full-blown "monkey trial," as they did at Dayton, Tennessee in 1925. The evolutionists never defend their position with scientific facts, for they do not have any. Instead, they use ridicule and lawsuits (Norman Geisler, The Creator and the Courtroom, 1982; Robert Gentry, Creation’s Tiny Mystery, 1986).
Radioactive Halos Disprove Molten Earth Theory (1986). Robert V. Gentry carried on research into radiohalos in granite for years, but was discharged from Oak Ridge Research Laboratory in 1982 because he testified in defense of Arkansas State at the above-mentioned trial. He then put his years of research findings and professional articles into a book (Creation’s Tiny Mystery, 1986). In brief, billions upon billions of polonium 218 radiohalos are in granite; yet each halo was formed in less than 3 minutes. There is no way the halos could get in there after the granite was formed; yet the granite had to be solid when the halos formed. This means the granite was created solid in less than three minutes! Since granite is the basement rock under every continent, it would be impossible for the earth to once have been a molten mass as conjectured by the evolutionists. Interestingly enough, granite can be melted; but it will reform into rhyolite, never into granite. See chapter 3, Origin of the Earth, for a brief summary of data on this. Go to our website for a complete study on the subject.
Poll of Biology Teachers (1988). A survey, conducted by the University of Texas, found that 30% of 400 high-school biology teachers believe in Biblical creation and only 19% believe in evolution (Waco Tribune-Herald, September 11, 1988).
Chernobyl (1986) is another evolutionist’s paradise. Since mutations are today thought to be the leading mechanism for achieving evolutionary change for the better, the intense radiation which the people received on April 26, 1986, should have brought them great benefit because of all the mutations it induced. They should be stronger, healthier, have improved organs, and produce children which are higher forms of life. But this has not happened. Scientists know that even Marie Curie and her daughter died as a result of working with radiation. Mutations result in harm and death, never in evolutionary change (*Isaac Asimov, Asimov’s New Guide to Science, 1984, pp. 691-692).
AN EXTENSION OF THIS 1743-1986 TIME LINE—UP TO THE YEAR 2006—IS GIVEN LATER IN THIS BOOK
"I have often thought how little I should like to have to prove organic evolution in a court of law."—*Errol White, Proceedings of the Linnean Society, London (1966) [an ichthyologist (expert on fish) in a 1988 address before a meeting of the Linnean Society in London].
"I doubt if there is any single individual within the scientific community who could cope with the full range of [creationist] arguments without the help of an army of consultants in special fields."—*David M. Raup, "Geology and Creation," Bulletin of the Field Museum of Natural History, Vol. 54, March 1983, p. 18.
EVOLUTION COULD NOT DO THIS
The mallee bird lives in the Australian desert. In May or June, with his claws the male makes a pit in the sand that is just the right size: about 3 feet [9 dm] deep and 6 feet [18 dm] long. Then he fills it with vegetation. As it rots, it heats up. The bird waits patiently until the rains, which increase the heat to over 100o F. [38o C.] at the bottom of the pile. The bird waits until it is down to 92o F. [33o C.]. When the right temperature is reached, he calls for his wife; they mate; she lays one egg a day for 30 days and then leaves. The male then covers the eggs with sand and continually checks the temperature with his amazing thermometer bill for 7 weeks. He cannot let the temperature go up or down even one degree. If it cools at night, he piles on more sand. If it overheats in the day, he pulls off sand. At hatching time, the chicks break their shells—and crawl up through as much as 2 feet of sand! Arriving at the top, each one is fully able to fly and is on its own. Neither father or mother mallee bird gives it any further attention or training. When it grows up, it does just as its parents did.
1 - From the list of 34 pioneers of modern science, select 5 that in your view made especially important discoveries.
2 - Gregor Mendel was a true scientist. Using an encyclopedia, write a one-page paper on the life and work of Mendel.
3 - The following men were highly influential in their time: Linnaeus, Paley, *Buffon, *Lamarck, *Cuvier, *Erasmus Darwin, *Hutton, *Lyell, and *Wallace. On a sheet of paper, list their names in the left column; in the center column, write whether each was a Creationist or evolutionist; in the right column, note whether each was a genuine scientist or just someone who liked to come up with original, new ideas. What relationships exist on this chart? On the bottom of the sheet, write a general conclusion based on the information given on the sheet.
4 - It is of interest that the neo-Darwinian theory (of mutations as the means of cross-species change) began with a mistake by *Hugo deVries. In a paragraph, explain what the mistake was.
5 - The 1860 debate, at Oxford, and the 1925 Scopes trial, in Dayton, were turning points in favor of evolution in England and America. Yet neither victories were won because of scientific evidence. Explain why.
6 - Why is it that evolutionary theory has not produced its outstanding accomplishments in scientific discoveries, but it is in hoaxes, imaginative claims and artwork, lawsuits, and government and employment coercion?
7 - *Stephen Jay Gould was a very influential evolutionist of the 1980s. What is his theory? Why is it so weak?
8 - Write a full-page report on one or several of the special evolutionist meetings, convened to try to resolve the terrible problems confronting evolutionists (1966, 1969, 1980, 1981, 1984). Which one special scientific discovery, and which new scientific technology, especially damaged evolutionary theory?