To Some, It’s Still Evilution

One of the highlights of our recent trip to Chicago (after celebrating my father’s 90th birthday) was a trip to the Field Museum of Natural History down on the lakefront. I couldn’t remember the last time I had been there but it was probably more than 30 years ago when I was still living in the Chicago area with my parents.

The Field Museum is renowned for its extensive fossil collections, especially the Dinosaurs, including Sue, the worlds largest, most famous and most complete T. rex. But instead of displaying the collection like a bunch of exhibits behind glass as I recalled from my childhood, they are now part of an interactive journey through time called The Evolving Planet.

You enter the exhibit beginning with planet earth 4.5 billion years ago and then walk through the various eras, epochs and periods all the way up to the present day. Each step is illustrated with fossils, dioramas, and short movies summarizing the information and highlighting dozens of scientists whose life work is on display. There are six major extinctions and several cycles of ice ages. We spent over five hours taking it all in.

A portion of the exhibit was devoted to the work of Charles Darwin whose name is synonymous with evolution. And ever since Darwin wrote Origin of Species, evolution has been under attack by Biblical fundamentalists. They tried to prevent evolution from being taught in our schools and failed. They switched tactics and offered their own “theory” of creationism and its latest incarnation, intelligent design insisting that these teachings are of equal stature with the “theory” of evolution and should be taught in our schools.

As I learned at the Field Museum, evolution isn’t just one theory among others; it is one of the most strongly substantiated theories in modern science. It’s the only scientifically accepted theory that both explains the amazing diversity of life on Earth today—and provides a concrete explanation for why this diversity has changed throughout history. I have never viewed evolution as a threat or contradiction to the idea that there is intelligence in the form of principle within it.

Later on in his life, Charles Darwin is quoted as saying; "When I wrote The Origin of Species, my faith in God was as strong as that of a bishop." According to Darwin Biographer James Moore, Darwin wants to convince you in this book that God has established laws of nature on Earth, as in the heavens, and these laws produce the forms of life that we observe. And the principal cause of this for Darwin is what he calls natural selection.

Evolution is perfectly compatible with principle, intelligence and cause. No one suggests that it is a random and meaningless process. That would be a philosophical argument not a scientific conclusion. Even neo-atheist Richard Dawkins, truly an expert in the field of evolution, doesn’t call it a random process. He objects to the idea of a mythical supernatural god with human attributes who manipulates the phenomenal world.

The evolution/creationist debate is far from over. Creationists continue to attempt to undermine the work of science because it contradicts their literal reading of Genesis. I say let God out of the box and see the magnificence and scope of creation through open and wondering eyes. That was my experience at the Field Museum and I can't wait to go back! Check out these resources for more information.

For a virtual tour of the Field Museum exhibit: http://www.fieldmuseum.org/evolvingplanet/

For more on Darwin see “Evolution and Wonder; Understanding Charles Darwin” http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/darwin/index.shtml