I love a mystery, not simply for mystery's sake, but for the challenge that I see in it. This is the challenge of finding an explanation leading to something that I love at least as much as mystery - knowledge and understanding. This is why I find it so difficult to understand why many persist in their denial of the incredibly well-supported theory of evolution.

Evolution is an elegant explanation of the origins of the biodiversity of life on earth and unifies our knowledge in a way that few other scientific theories have. So well confirmed is the scientific theory of evolution by the accumulated evidence of 200 years of biology and geology, that to deny it in the 21st century is as irrational and unreasonable as to deny the theory of gravity.

An oft-repeated misconception by evolution deniers is that there is disagreement among professional biologists. There simply is no disagreement with the basic notion that modern day species are the result of descent with modification from ancestors. Furthermore, the process of natural section is the key driving mechanism for such modification. It is disingenuous to claim that technical interdisciplinary disputes regarding the details of genetics, selection pressures, and the like challenge this well-established consensus.

Many deniers of evolution continue to claim that a lack of intermediary fossils in the paleontological record justifies skepticism. This claim is mistaken and tired. Many intermediary fossils do exist, and more are found on a regular basis. Even if no intermediary fossils did exist, our recent knowledge of genetics, including junk DNA and pseudogenes, provides superior evidence to the fossil record.

While the fossil record fully supports the theory of evolution, is a welcome addition to our accumulated knowledge, and is important in its own right, evolutionary theory would be strongly upheld without that record's contributions. Evolutionary theory is a well-supported scientific explanation for the biodiversity of life on earth. It is not a political or ethical philosophy.

We should inform our challenge of deciding how we ought to treat other people, other sentient creatures and the environment with a clear understanding of our evolutionary origin and nature, but it need not be dictated by it. For that, we must use the reason and the emotion with which the course of evolution has endowed us.

For many, evolution flies in the face of their deeply-held worldview. Looking critically at one's worldview in the face of a perceived threat is a difficult task. Developing a worldview that includes an understanding and acceptance of evolutionary theory is more than just an aesthetic exercise. Evolutionary theory is the underpinning of much of our children's future. Policies concerning commercial fishing, agriculture, global warming, antimicrobial treatment, gene therapy and so much more depend on such a worldview and understanding.

As biologist Julian Huxley and his brother, the novelist Aldous Huxley, remind us, "Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored." If your worldview has no room for a scientific theory that is as certain as Newton's apple falling to earth, then I suggest that the effort in reexamining such a worldview will be well worth the struggle.

Douglas Schrepel   January 2008