Letter to the Editor

Penguins and evolution

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Dear Editor,

There's little doubt that evolution is a theory in crisis, as science is finding more and more contradictory evidence that dispels the probability that all life emerged and evolved from one or more simple organisms.

What we have here is a bunch of sloppy semantics, not some kind of worldwide conspiracy against the God of the Bible or something. What the scientists are defending is "microevolution," or change within species -- not "macroevolution," or change from one species to another.

Nobody has any problem with microevolution, which is genetic reshuffling on down the generations. We can all agree that that happens. What there's no evidence for, is change from one species to another, no matter how much time elapses. I wish the scientists would just let down their hair and admit that.

I really think that's all this whole controversy is about. We need more precise definitions of what it is that we see in science, and we need to hold scientists much more accountable for the assumptions and inferences they are drawing, because many of them are wrong because of this confused language.

But here's a simple solution:

If you go to see the wildly popular documentary, "March of the Penguins," you cannot come away still believing in evolution. There is no way that all of the marvelous adaptations the penguins have -- each one distinct and crucial for the survival of the species -- evolved gradually and slowly over the eons. They had to have been designed explicitly for penguins. There's just no doubt about it.

It's a great movie, and one of the reasons is that it puts the theory of evolution right where it belongs -- in the deep freeze, where nobody in their right mind wants to go.

Susan Darst Williams,

via e-mail

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