Evolution not just one man's theory
Lisa Szatkowski was mistaken when she stated in her Sept. 5 letter s that evolution is "One man's creative theory..." (Evolution is not a fact, Wed. Sept. 5).
In the mid-19th century, the "time was ripe" for evolutionary concepts to be developed. Darwin published his "Origin of the Species" only after he realized that Alfred Wallace was going to publish his independently arrived at theory of natural selection.
After learning of evolutionary concepts, biologist Thomas Huxley said, "How extremely stupid not to have thought of that!"
The majority of late 19th century biologists accepted evolution as the best explanation for the enormous diversity of life on earth.
Since Darwin, evolution has repeatedly passed every test, contrary to the distortions of creationist literature. The undeniable evidence for evolution is overwhelming and a study (Google Martz & McDaniel) of 500,000 U.S. scientists in earth and life sciences showed that 99.84 percent supported evolution over creation as the best explanation that can fully explain observations in the fields of biology, paleontology and anthropology.
Support for evolution also comes from the seemingly unrelated fields of geology, biochemistry, physics, astronomy, cosmology, molecular genetics, comparative anatomy, and others. The convergence of evidence developed independently from all the fields of science was "neither sought nor fabricated." (Pope John Paul II, 1996).
Let's get personal. Suppose you are diagnosed with tuberculosis. Do you want to be treated with drugs used decades ago against the disease or do you want to be treated with newer drugs which have been "intelligently designed" by medical scientists who understand the theory of evolution and the TB microbe's evolving resistance to the earlier drugs?
Faith in the absence of evidence can be respected. Faith in the teeth of overwhelming evidence is self-delusion. Let's teach our children "how to think" based on reason and evidence rather than "what to think."
David Thiessen
Woodstock