Fazale Rana writes in the March/April 2008 edition of the Reasons to Believe Newsletter that evolutionists and creationists agree that the earth’s “garden” (plant life) has changed dramatically over time. The questions is on the “how.” Darwinists propose that it happened slowly in spontaneous response to external and internal environment changes via natural selection and mutations. But this theory doesn’t seem to fit with what we now know from the fossil record.
Scientists like Stephen J. Gould have modified the theory to propose a “punctuated equilibrium” theory to better fit the fossil record. This view states that life changed in sudden spurts, followed by long periods of little or no change. These proponents say that small groups of species became isolated and that change occurred rapidly as they responded to their new environments and conditions.
The University of Oregon challenged this notion by doing theoretical work that showed the isolation and adaptation process at the core of “punctuated equilibrium” leads to extinction, not evolution. Field workers from Washington University have more recently confirmed this conclusion by studying collared lizards in the Missouri Ozarks. They found that an isolated group is more likely to die off than adapt and survive.
In conclusion, the evolutionary view faces two major problems. It lacks corroboration from the fossil record, and the punctuated equilibrium version lacks a legitimate mechanism. In light of the absence of naturalistic explanations, it seems only reasonable that science should consider all options, including the possibility of an “intelligent designer.” The “scientific method” is by definition based on gathering evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning. It pursues the “truth” without bias, no matter where it leads.
