1. CREATION to EVOLUTION Diverse Views of How the Giraffe got its Long Neck (pictured is a Golden-crowned Kinglet, not a giraffe) AFACCT Conference January 9 th, 2003 Chesapeake College Presented by Dr. David Thorndill Professor of Biology CCBC Essex

2. Evolutionism Creationism 1. All species change and have descended from another species 2. All life began with one (or a few) original species 3. Organisms have been on earth for billions of years. 1. All species have undergone minor changes 2. All species were instantaneously created fully formed 3. The Creation of all species took place a few thousand years ago.

3. MAIN FEATURES OF: EVOLUTIONARY BIBLICAL SYNTHESIS CREATIONISM Natural Selection (Darwin) –All species have variations –Few offspring survive to reproduce –Some variations have a better chance of survival Mutation –DNA replication makes rare mistakes that may produce altered proteins and new variations Speciation –A new species may develop through mutation and selection Genesis –Genesis is part of sacred texts in Islam, Judaism, Christianity (Bible) –Some sects believe in literal interpretations Creation –In six days God created the earth and all modern species (no speciation) –Creation was a few thousand years ago (Bishop James Ussher calculated Creation was in 4004 B.C.)

4. THE JOURNEY to EVOLUTION Geological Uniformitarianism James Hutton (1785) Theory of the Earth Charles Lyell (1830) Principles of Geology Alfred Wegener (1915) The Origin of Continents- Jean Baptiste Lamarck 1800-Theory of Acquired Characteristics Charles Darwin (1859) On the Origin of Species, Theory of Natural Selection Modern Synthetic Evolutionary Theory (~1920) synthesis of theories of Natural Selection and Mutations

5. BIBLICAL CREATIONISM Literal interpretation of Genesis: God created the earth and all species; great flood of Noah Bishop James Ussher (1630) calculated Creation took place in 4004 B.C. Georges Cuvier (early 1800s) proponent of geological catastrophism (young earth) Giraffe- God created the first giraffes 6000 years ago and today’s giraffes have descended from them with few changes Scientific creationism-the theory that a scientific examination of data supports the view that God created the earth and all species