"Biological Evolution refutes the idea of an interested God much more decisively than physics does." - Steven Weinberg, American elementary particle physicist; Nobel Laureate of "Even though David Hume and other philosophers had already severely battered the design argument for God's existence, only Darwin's theory of natural selection provided a fully convincing refutation of natural theology. Darwin made it possible to be an intellectually fulfilled atheist." - Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1986) The pictures and the article have been mainly taken from the book, 'Introducing Evolution', written by Dylan Evans & Howard Selina; Totem Books (USA) & Icon Books (UK), 2005.

Theory of Evolution: Universal Acid The theory of evolution threatens all these old ideas. It undermines the central claims of many religions. It seems to leave no room for God, or the soul, or life after death. Humans, it tells us, are just another kind of animal. The American philosopher, Daniel Dennett (b. 1942), has described the theory of evolution as a kind of "Universal Acid". Like universal acid, the theory of evolution eats through just about every traditional religious idea. This is why Dennett calls it "Darwin's Dangerous Idea".

Fixity of Species and Independent Creation: Biblical Story For Hundreds of years, Christian scholars accepted (Aristotle's) theory of the fixity of species. They believed that God had created each species independently at the beginning of time, and that each species then remained exactly the same up to the present.. Genesis 2:19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. [After making the animals, God asked Adam to name them all. The naming of several million species must have kept Adam busy for a while. But theory of evolution tells us that animals were not created instantaneously from the ground, but evolved over millions of years. And we still don't have names for all of them. Ten thousand new species of insects are discovered and named each year. Check: More conflict between Bible story and evolution]More conflict between Bible story and evolution

So Called Scientific Creationism Despite the overwhelming evidences showing that life on earth has evolved gradually over millions of years, there are still many people who do not accept theory of evolution. In the United States of America, for example, about a quarter of the population still believe in the literal truth of the creation story told in the book of Genesis. Some fundamentalist Christians in the United States have even argued that creationism - the idea that God created all species in their current form a few hundred years ago - is a scientific theory on a par with the theory of evolution.. In 1987, the US Supreme Court declared that it was no more than thinly veiled religion.

Darwin's Contribution It was the theory of natural selection - not the theory of evolution - that was Darwin's most original contribution to biology.. Natural Selection is a very simple idea. So simple, in fact when a Friend of Darwin (T H. Huxley) first heard of it, he exclaimed- "How stupid of me not to have thought of it before". Yet Natural selection is also a powerful idea, for it can explain all the complex order we see around us in biological world.

Evolution by Natural Selection Theory of Evolution and theory of Natural Selection:. Put them together and you get the theory of evolution by natural selection. This states that species change into another species without any outside help.

Darwin's Dangerous Idea The theory of evolution by natural selection is far more dangerous than mere theory of evolution. We could perhaps, accept that species evolve, and still believe in God. After all might it not be the case that the God supervises the evolutionary process? It is not the idea of evolution itself that is a universal acid. It is the idea that evolution happens because of Natural Selection.

The Argument from Design To see why the theory of evolution by natural selection makes the traditional idea of God superfluous, it is necessary to understand one of the most common arguments for the existence of God. This is the "argument from design". William Paley ( ) summed up this argument in his 1803 book, Natural Theology, When you look at a watch or any other complex machine, Paley said, it must have been made by an intelligent creature. Paley assumed that this designer was God. In other words, just as the existence of watch implies the existence of watchmaker, so Paley thought that existence of adaptations in animals, plants and other organisms implies the existence of a divine creator- God! But Darwin came out with another explanation....

Scientific Explanation for Biological "Design" The argument from design has impressed many people. Before Darwin it seemed that God was the only way to explain the complex design exhibited by living things. Thanks to Darwin, however, we now know that there is another way to explain complex designs found in living things. This is natural section.

Cumulative Natural Selection Natural selection can be cumulative as well as single-step. Each step must be a small improvement over the previous step, for otherwise the new design would not be copied more than the old one.

The Blind Watchmaker Natural selection has no foresight. When feathers first evolved, this was not in order to prepare the way for the evolution of wings. Feathers just happened to evolve for one reason, and it is so happened that this provided the material for the evolution of wings. Natural selection designs wonderful things, but has no plans. For this reason, the British zoologist Richard Dawkins (b 1941) has described it as a "blind watchmaker" "Natural selection, the blind, unconscious, automatic process which Darwin discovered, and which we now know is the explanation for the existence and apparent purposeful form of all life, has no purpose in mind. It has no mind and no mind's eye. It does not plan for the future. It has no vision, no foresight, no sight at all. If it can be said to play the role of watchmaker in nature, it is the blind watchmaker." -Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1986). But because Natural selection can be cumulative, the many small changes can eventually add up a wonderful design. Cumulative natural selection is Darwin's answer to Paley's argument from design. Paley was right to demand an explanation for complex designs in nature. But he was wrong to assert that the only such explanation is God!

Occam's Razor So there are now two possible explanations for complex designs. Either they were designed by God, or by cumulative natural selection. Which explanation should we prefer? Whenever there is more than one possible explanation for something, there is a simple rule of thumb that we should use to decide which is the right explanation.... The rule is called "Occam's Razor" after Willium of Occam (c ). Natural Selection is much simpler explanation than devine creation because it only requires us to believe in things that we already know about. No supernatural being is needed.

No Need for "God hypothesis" Occam's Razor tells us that we should always prefer simpler explanations. Natural selection is simpler explanation than devine creation, since it only involves things we can already observe. Thus we should always prefer to explain biological design by natural selection rather than divine creation. It indeed does destroy the most powerful arguments of God. The famous reply of French Mathematician Pierre Simon de Laplace ( ) to Napoleon is now truer than ever : Darwin's impersonal theory of evolution by natural selection thus rules out any proper appeal to the God-hypothesis. If there is a watchmaker at all, it is not divine intelligence but blind natural selection that has put the parts of nature so wonderfully together over the course of billions of years of trial and error. The aimless forces of evolution are sufficient to explain all the marvels of life and mind. Creationism or newly termed "Intelligent Design" is not science, they can not be taught in science classes. It is a blind belief, you can not support this belief from any scientific point of view. As famous biologist/Evolutionist of our time Douglas J. Futuyma says in his book ' Evolution', "Scientists can test and falsify some specific creationist claims, such as the occurrence of a worldwide flood or the claim that the earth and all organisms are less than 10,000 years old, but scientists can not test the hypothesis that God exist, or He created anything, because we do not know what consistent patterns these hypothesis might predict The fundamental claim of creationism - that biological diversity is the result of supernatural powers - is not testable. This is equally true of 'intelligent design' theory, it can not be evaluated by the methods of science." The pictures and some portions of the article have been mainly taken from the book, 'Introducing Evolution', written by Dylan Evans & Howard Selina; Totem Books (USA) & Icon Books (UK), END