Page 118 - The Origin of Birds and Flight

116 The Origin of Birds and Flight

Dennet then cites Darwin’s words regarding what would invalidate
his natural selection theory: As Darwin himself put it, in a letter to the
geologist Charles Lyell shortly after publication of Origin, "I would give
absolutely nothing for the theory of Natural Selection, if it requires mi-
raculous additions at any one stage of descent . . . if I were convinced
that I required such additions to the theory of natural selection, I would
reject it as rubbish.” 89
In the above words, Darwin admitted that to account for the origin
of living things, the need for “miraculous additions” would invalidate
his theory. At that time, science was not sufficiently advanced to dis-

The last century has seen developments that all argued against Darwinism. Advances in
technology and scientific understanding confirmed Darwin’s own doubts about his theory
and revealed that the theory of evolution had no scientific basis. Darwin proposed his theo-
ry of evolution, the product of an outdated scientific conception, for the sake of denying
the evident creation in living things. This theory, the gravest misconception of the 19th
century, was merely the work of an amateur biologist.