CREATION DEBATE DRAWS AN OVERFLOW CROWD

Dr. Edward Max of the National Institutes of Health was Dr. Duane Gish's opponent in the debate held in Christ's Chapel of Gustavus Adolphus College, in Minnesota, February 22. It was estimated that more than 1500 faculty, students, and citizens of Minnesota and several other states filled the auditorium to overflowing.

Max cited the hierarchical arrangements of organisms and molecular biology as support for evolution. He claimed that creation scientists' arguments against evolution based on the Second Law of Thermodynamics ignored the fact that local decreases in entropy (local increases in order) can occur without violating the Second Law. He illustrated this by the example of placing a copper ball cooled to 100 in a water bath. The ball warms up and the bath cools down. Max believes that this is relevant to evolution and illustrates an evasion of the Second Law. He claimed that creationist arguments on probability are invalid because they propose an all at once origin rather than a step-by-step origin of a protein molecule. He defined homology as the origin of similar structures in different animals by inheritance from a common ancestor. (As evidence he cited the existence in different creatures, such as chimp, gorilla, and man of genetic structures called pseudogenes.) He claimed pseudogenes were useless genetic structures that resulted from mutations. He claimed that the probability that the same mutation could have occurred in chimp, gorilla, and man is so vanishingly small that these pseudogenes had to be inherited from a common ancestor, and were thus homologous. He claimed that the fossil record exhibits a ladder of life as expected on the basis of evolution. He claimed that Basilosaurus was an intermediate in the evolution of modern whales. He asserted that evolution occurs rapidly in small populations, and that many creatures are soft-bodied and thus rarely leave fossils and these are some of the reasons more transitional forms aren't found. He stated that ICR scientists are able to sway nonscientific audiences because such audiences are poorly informed.

Gish began by contrasting the concept of a non-theistic, mechanistic evolutionary theory with the concept of a theistic, supernatural origin by the deliberate creative acts of an intelligent agent external to and independent of the natural universe. He pointed out why evolution is no more scientific and is no less religious than creation. He quoted the well-known Darwinian evolutionist and philosopher of science, Dr. Michael Ruse, who now points out that evolution (as is now being taught) is an ideology, a full-fledged alternative to Christianity. He states flatly that evolution is a religion.

Gish cited several biology books used in schools today that illustrate the atheistic nature of the evolutionary theory being taught in our schools, colleges, and universities. He described the fact that the Second Law of Thermodynamics states that an isolated system can never increase in ordered complexity and organization but always, without exception, runs down and deteriorates. Evolutionists believe, however, the universe is an isolated system that began in the chaos and disorder of a hypothetical big bang and the simplicity of hydrogen gas and transformed itself into the incredibly complex universe we have today, in direct contradiction to the Second Law. He asserted that Max's example of the copper ball in a water bath was irrelevant to evolution.

To refute the evolutionist claims concerning homology, Gish attacked their claim that two bones from the reptilian ear moved up into the ear of the mammal to constitute the incus and malleus of the mammalian ear. He pointed out that for this to happen, the columella bone of the reptilian ear had to become detached from the tympanic membrane (and to become the mammalian stapes) in order to allow the insertion of the incus and malleus, the malleus now being attached to the tympanic membrane of the mammalian ear. He asked how the creature could hear between the time the columella detaches from the tympanic membrane and the newly formed malleus becomes attached. He then illustrated the incredibly complex organ of Corti, the essential organ of hearing of the mammal. No mammal can hear without the organ of Corti. It is found in every mammal but occurs in no reptile, and there is nothing in the reptile from which it could have evolved. The argument that two of the bones in the mammalian ear are homologous to and derived from two bones of a reptilian ear is demolished by the evidence. Gish cited further evidence from papers published by evolutionists that they have failed to relate homology to evolutionary processes.

Finally, Gish documented the total absence of any fossil evidence of ancestors to and transitional forms between complex invertebrates and the total absence of any fossil transitional forms between these invertebrates and fish, supposedly the first vertebrates. He asserted that this evidence alone is sufficient to destroy evolutionary theory.

In his rebuttals Max claimed that there are transitional forms in the fossil record. He stated several times that ICR scientists are pseudoscientists who sway naive audiences. He displayed what he claimed were skeletal structures of chimpanzees, humans, and Australopithecus (Johanson's famous "Lucy"). The skeletal structures of the limbs and pelvis of Ausiralopithecus was essentially the same as that of the human but significantly different from that of the chimp, Max claimed.

In his rebuttals Gish pointed out that Max failed to answer Gish's challenge based on the total absence of an evolutionary origin of complex invertebrates and fish. He asserted that Max's illustration of skeletons of humans and Australopithecus was actually fraudulent, as the evidence produced, for example, by Charles Oxnard and Lord Zuckerman (both evolutionists) has documented that the skeletal structure of humans and australopithecines as so significantly different that australopithecines could not have been ancestral to man. Gish quoted from a book by Barbara Stahl (an evolutionist) in which she said that based on the teeth and serpentine structure of Basilosaurus, it could not possibly have been ancestral to modern whales.

Gish stated the reason creation scientists do not publish articles relative to creation/evolution in standard scientific journals is because the editors and referees flatly refuse even to consider publishing such articles. Gish challenged Max to quit reiterating charges that creation scientists are pseudoscientists and rather provide answers to the scientific evidence for creation and against evolution provided by Gish.

The debate closed with questions from the audience directed alternatively to each debater, permitting further opportunity for lively exchanges.

"Acts and Facts." Institute for Creation Research, Vol 30 No.5 May 2001