The Cincinnati Enquirer |
Editorial Page
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April 23, 1998 |
The recent announcement by the National Academy of Science on the teaching
of evolution in public schools, which said "There is no debate within the
scientific community over whether evolution has occurred, and there is
no evidence that evolution has not occurred," leaves me nearly breathless
["Panel urges schools to teach evolution," April 10]. For in the same article,
a biochemist, Michael Behe, and a molecular biologist, Raymond G. Bohlin,
are mentioned for promoting the concept of intelligent design. I am not
familiar with the work of Dr. Bolhin, but I have read Michael Behe’s book,
Darwin’s Black Box, in which he makes a strong case against Darwinian processes
producing cellular molecular machines.
What makes the academy’s pronouncement so disingenuous is the fact that within the academy reside the same scientists who have led the way in elucidating the nature of the factories and molecular machines that make a cell function. The molecular biologists not only are describing the end product, but also the mechanism by which cells transfer information to produce proteins that drive the chemical processes of the cell. |
Within the past 40 years, one of the
great achievements of science has been to describe in detail how cells
actually work at the molecular level.
Thus, we are a privileged generation capable of critically examining the Darwinian proposition, which has had a profound effect upon modern thought, given the knowledge we have on the actual workings of cells. The crux of the matter is well stated by Dr. Behe. An irreducible complex is that combination of cell components that cannot perform a function without all components being simultaneously present and in precise specificity and juxtaposition. In short, no advantage is realized until the complex is complete. Darwinism is all about reproductive advantage. To believe that the components of the irreducible complex can be produced by point mutations and survive requires one to evoke dual functionality, i.e. each component perform some other essential function. Unfortunately, no such evidence exists. As a biochemist, my question is: When are we going to present all of the evolutionary considerations in the public classrooms. Maurie Loomans
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