Complexity requires a designer
Dinosaur and human footprints found together
Older fossils found above younger ones
Prominent biologists dispute evolution
Complexity requires a designer
It is self-evident that the Universe is designed because of all it’s beauty and complexity. If the Universe is designed, then it must have a designer that is God.
The problem with this argument is that it is inconsistent with itself. It argues that complexity (the universe) requires a designer (God). But stops there and doesn’t require a designer for God, who himself would have to be very complex. This breaks it’s own rule.
The response usually given is that God has always existed. But if God has always existed, then why not just save a step and say the universe has always existed?
First cause
Every effect has to have a cause. The beginning of the universe had to have a cause, a first cause. That cause was God.
The problem with this argument (like the similar complexity argument) is that it makes a rule that every effect has to have a cause and then breaks it’s own rule by not requiring a cause for God.
Again the response is that God has always existed, that is why he needs no cause. So again, why not save a step and say the universe has always existed and does not require a cause?
Second law of thermodynamics
The second law of thermodynamics states that Entropy (disorder) is always increasing in a system. Since evolution requires that order arise out of disorder, it is therefore false.
This argument ignores the fact that you can have pockets of reverse entropy (order from disorder) and still have a total increase in entropy in the whole system (the universe).
You can get order out of disorder if energy is added which decreases the entropy in a system at the expense of increasing the entropy outside of the system. Reverse entropy is an everyday occurrence. An acorn grows into a much more complex tree.
Orderly ice crystals grow from disorganized water. Hurricanes organize from disorganized ocean water.
In the case of the acorn, it is the energy stored internally in the seed and later the energy of the Sun. In the ice crystal it is the energy being released by the freezing water going to a lower temperature. In the hurricane it is the heat of the ocean that it draws from. Once the hurricane enters land and loses it’s energy source, it disorganizes again and disappears.
Meanwhile the total entropy of the universe continues to increase.
Decay in the speed of light
The universe only appears to be billions of light years across and billions of years old because the speed of light was much faster in the past and has slowed down to it’s present speed. The age of the earth and the universe is only about 6000 years as the bible indicates.
Link to proof of the universe being at least 170,000 years old regardless of the speed of light
This argument is only asserted by creationists as Einstein’s relativity theory prohibits speeds faster than the current speed of light. Higher speeds as the creationist’s assert for light are simply impossible. The actual age of the universe is more on the order of 12 billion years.
Helium argument
The small amount of helium in the atmosphere proves that the earth is young. If the Earth was as old as geologists say there would be much more helium in the atmosphere because it is a product of uranium decay.
Helium (used in blimps) is an extremely light gas and simply escapes from the earth’s atmosphere.
Ironically because of helium escaping from the atmosphere, it is also argued by some creationists that the atmosphere should have less helium if the earth was old, ignoring the replenishment of helium by uranium decay.
Earth’s magnetism
The rate of decay of the earth’s magnetic field leads to a calculation that the earth was created less than 10,000 years ago.
The Earth’s magnetic field is currently decreasing, but this argument ignores the fact that the earth undergoes a change in it’s magnetic polarity every few thousand years. These cyclic shifts in the earth’s magnetic field have been recorded in lava outflows in the ocean’s floor.
Lack of transitional fossils
If evolution were true, there would be transitional fossils, but there are none, therefore evolution did not occur.
Fossilization is an extremely rare process. Virtually all of the bones that have ever existed have turned to dust. Many transitional fossils have however been found, including many human ancestors at different stages spanning the last 4 millions years.
Eusthenopteron shows a marvelous intermediate characteristics between lobe-finned fishes and amphibians. The transitional fossils between amphibians and reptiles are so various and intermediate that it is difficult to define where one group ends and another begins.
Archaeopteryx
is clearly intermediate between reptiles and birds.
Mountain erosion
The rate of erosion of mountains proves the earth is young as the mountains would have eroded completely away if the earth was as old as geologists say.
This argument like many others simply ignores cycles in nature. In this case mountain building is ignored.
Sun shrinking
The Sun is shrinking.
Calculations show that the Sun could not be billions of years old at the rate it is shrinking.
Again this argument ignores cycles in nature. The Sun is currently shrinking but it undergoes cycles of shrinking and expanding.
Human population
The number of humans today would be much greater if we have been around as long as science says.
A population of humans or any species is held in check by it’s predators and the species’ own food supply. When the species grow in numbers, so do it’s predators and hence this stops the increase in numbers. When the food supply grows, so do the species’ numbers until there is not enough food to go around.
For the vast majority of human existence, there has been predators and a limited food supply. This situation has only comparatively recently changed causing the current population explosion.
Attack of dating methods
A living freshwater mussel was determined by Carbon 14 dating to be over 2,000 years old; therefore Carbon 14 dating is worthless.
The mussel in question had acquired much of it’s carbon from the limestone of it’s surrounding water and sediment which caused an artificially older date.
This is a rare case where the method did fail, but in virtually all other tests, it has shown itself to be extremely accurate.
Meteorite dust
Meteorite dust influx from space to Earth is about 14 tons per year. If the Earth and the Moon were 4.5 billion years old, then there should be a layer of dust 50 to 100 feet thick covering their surfaces.
This estimate of dust influx is simply out of date. Space probes have found that the level of dust influx is 400 times less.
No eyewitnesses to evolution
Biologists have never witnessed one species evolve into another.
This is for the most part true, but not relevant. Evolutionary changes require many lifetimes to accumulate into massive changes for most organisms.
Evolution too is a religion that requires faith
This is simply not true.
Evolutionary science is based on observation, fossil evidence, and solid theory and is itself falsifiable.
No faith is needed and there is nothing sacred about it. Any part of it genuinely shown to be false is modified or abandoned.
Dinosaur and human footprints
Dinosaur and human footprints have been found together in Glen Rose, Texas. Therefore dinosaurs could not have preceded humans by millions of years.
Photographs of dinosaur footprints with the footpad obscured by sand have been published but incorrectly portrayed as human footprints.
Older fossils above younger ones
There have been fossils that are supposed to be more primitive found at higher levels than more advanced fossils, showing they are really the same age.
This argument ignores the fact that strata in the earth frequently are thrust up, wrapped around on themselves, and thrust sideways into younger higher strata. This moves older fossils above younger ones.
Noachian flood deposit
All fossil were deposited at the time of the Noachian flood a few thousand years ago.
This is simply not true.
There is no geological evidence to support the claim of a worldwide flood.
Geographical features such as the Grand Canyon, mountain range formation, and continental drift require immense periods of time to occur.
Prominent biologists have made statements disputing evolution
Most such statements are taken out of context as some of the mechanisms of Natural Selection are still debated, but evolution itself is not disputed and is at the foundations of modern biology and medicine.
Similar skulls trick
A diagram of two skulls of different modern day animals, with the sizes of their skulls adjusted, is presented as an evolutionary progression and then the trick is exposed, intended to show how people can be fooled.
What is not mentioned in this argument is that modern paleontologists would easily recognize the deception, so it does not apply to trained scientists.
Piltdown and Nebraska man
Piltdown and Nebraska man skulls have fooled trained scientists and show that the other proto human skeleton remains are not genuine either.
Piltdown man was locked away from close scrutiny and guarded as closely as the British Jewels, rarely even being displayed for many years. This type of paleontology was in it’s infancy at the time of it’s discovery and no dating techniques were available to test it’s validity. Later in the 50s it was uncovered as a hoax. A similar hoax today would be not be possible with the knowledge we now have and modern dating techniques.
Nebraska man was simply an early mistake that was determined very soon after it’s discovery.
Odds against Abiogenesis
The odds of the simplest cell arising by chance is 100 to the 160th to 1 against.
A modern single cell is not being asserted for abiogenesis. The first crude cells that could make copies of themselves were not anything nearly as complex or sophisticated as a modern cell. That took a billion years of evolution to come about.
The odds of a crude abiogenesis on the other hand are very good. It is thought that life may inevitably arise given the right conditions and that life may have arisen many times on the earth before it "took".
Material taken from Tim Berra’s book "Evolution and the myth of Creationism".
All fossils and all forms can be said to be transitional since they are not an evolutionary dead end that cannot change. Fossila found in China are dinosaur but part bird and bird but part dinosaur proving that today’s birds came from yesterday’s dinosaurs.
The pakicetus was a wolf like land animal and developed into today’s whales and dolphins. The recently discovered toktaalik is a land crawling fish but so are fish you can see today. Both the mudskipper and tree climbing perch can manoeuver over dry land and even climb trees, evolution you can see now!
The Universe was recently accurately measured to 13.7 billion years old. Earth is 4.6 billion years old.
The old creationist rant about how can something come from nothing? (except where god is concerned) Google “phantom particles” to find out how scientists can produce particles from nothing.
Ice poles have been dug out which show over a million winters (a million years). Half lives can be demonstrated to work in a lab by using elements with half lives of days to fractions of a second. To alter radioactive decay, which creationists claim possible, you have to play about with the weak nuclear force in an atom. Strengthen it and the whole Universe collapses. Weaken it and the whole Universe blows up.
Over the last several hundred million years, the Earth froze over (700mya) with tillite rocks which are caused by glaciation seen at the equator. And there have been five extinction level asteroid impacts, the last of which wiped out the dinosaurs with the crater seen in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as geological evidences of a worldwide firestorm and shocked quartz (caused by such an impact) mas well as rare earth elements like iridium.
As to Noah’s flood, which was probably based on the Gilgamesh Saga which came from the Black Sea overflowing from melt water from the last ice age (10,000 years ago), low lying areas in Africa and Europe have never been underwater. Water needed to cover Everest is over a billion square miles while available water is good for under ten yards which would not cover many trees. There are some thirty million species of insects! How does a koala which doesn’t like leaving it’s tree even and needs special leaves to eat get from Australia to the ark and back?
From New Scientist magazine (12 Feb 2005) said that there is a race on to create life from inanimate materials in various labs. They expect results in 10-20 years.
Over 170 planets so far making it look like planets are the nrom in the Universe, so billions of trillions of them. Life possibly in the upper clouds of Venus. Probably on Mars since methane cannot last more than a feww centuries there and meteor impacts cannot account for it. Possibly on/under one or more moons of Jupiter and Saturn which indicates life could be plentiful in the Universe (though most of it would be vegetation, molds, bacteria but considering the number of planets, still a huge number of real beings out there. Why haven’t we received signals from them? In six million years, we have had radio for several decades and may soon invent something better. And sometimes it is better to keep quiet as we could attract the attention of a hostile superior race. Then again, look at what happened to the primitive races (red indians, aborigines, africans, etc when we made contact with them. Imagine us losing 90% of our work force overnight to new technology.)
As an European am just astonished by the number of creationists in the USA and their influence on U.S. politics e.g. in the educational sector.
How is it possible in a modern, educated society, in the country of Harvard University and MIT?
I myself live in a very religious country, but nobody here questions evolution. The Catholics accept it - and even the current and the previous pope did. So why are there so many Americans believing in this fantasy? I find this really, really unbelievable!