Evolutionibus

Creation 

Today I'll take on a topic that could fill 3 tomes - Evolution. As a boy in elementary school, I never believed the Biblical story of creation. Even then, I saw Adam & Eve as nice metaphors, but realized that the Biblical account was terribly far off on the timing (having the Earth only a few thousand years old). People who supported the Biblical account seemed dismissive of the massive fossile and geological evidence that shows how life has changed over eons.

In 8th grade, I was introduced to Darwin's theory of Evolution. At the time, I embraced the theory and later on, it's newer variants (e.g., Neodarwinism and Punctuated Equilibria). It was at least consistent with fossile evidence and the known time scale. However, at the age of 26, a little bit of a priori reasoning and maybe a bolt from the blue told me that highly complex systems couldn't occur thru accidental mutations. Not even a complex organic molecule would come about thru pure chance. I was nearly back to square one. I inferred that there was an intelligence involved, and it left calling cards along its path.

What I've searched for since has been a reconcilation of fossile evidence and logic, and maybe the discovery of a knowable, engineering "God". As far as intelligent design, some people have proposed UFO's, aliens, some type of directed Panspermia, and even one author who thinks some type of quantum-level events cause mutations. Am not fond of organized religion's approach, because of its myopic arrogance, as well as it's insistence on Special Creation (Judeo-Christian code words for "Garden of Eden"). My own feeling is that life evolved slowly, over time, consistent with fossile evidence, but that the changes were intelligently driven.

Our public school systems currently are being bombarded with lawsuits to emphasize that Darwin's theory is only a theory. I'm "down" with that, but am afraid that one brand of organized religion would use this as a way to get it's head in the classroom tent. What would make a far more interesting argument would be to say, "Yes God did it -- and by the way whose God, and exactly how did he go about it?" There's your debate! And it would be a way more interesting discussion, by the way.