Page 50 - The Evolution Deceit

THE EV O LU TION DE CEIT
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But neo-Darwinism was never a scientific theory anyway, but was an
ideological dogma if not to say some sort of false religion. The Canadian
philosopher of science Michael Ruse, a staunch evolutionist himself, con-
fesses this in a speech he gave at a 1993 meeting:
And certainly, there's no doubt about it, that in the past, and I think also in
the present, for many evolutionists, evolution has functioned as something
with elements which are, let us say, akin to being a secular religion ... And it
seems to me very clear that at some very basic level, evolution as a scientific
theory makes a commitment to a kind of naturalism... 11
This is why the champions of the theory of evolution still go on de-
fending it in spite of all the evidence to the contrary. One thing they can-
not agree on however is which of the different models proposed for the
realisation of evolution is the "right" one. One of the most important of
these models is the fantastic scenario known as "punctuated equilibrium".

Trial and Error: Punctuated Equilibrium
Most of the scientists who believe in evolution accept the neo-Dar-
winist theory of slow, gradual evolution. In recent decades, however, a dif-
ferent model has been proposed. Called "punctuated equilibrium", this
model maintains that living species came about not through a series of
small changes, as Darwin had maintained, but by sudden, large ones.
The first vociferous defenders of this notion appeared at the begin-
ning of the 1970s. Two American paleontologists, Niles Eldredge and
Stephen Jay Gould, were well aware that the claims of the neo-Darwinist
theory were absolutely refuted by the fossil record. Fossils proved that liv-
ing organisms did not originate by gradual evolution, but appeared sud-
denly and fully-formed. Neo-Darwinists
were living with the fond hope-they still do-
that the lost transitional forms would one day
be found. Realising that this hope was
groundless, Eldredge and Gould were never-
theless unable to abandon their evolutionary
dogma, so they put forward a new model:
punctuated equilibrium. This is the claim that
evolution did not take place as a result of
minor variations but rather in sudden and
great changes. Steph en Jay Gould