The Tennessee Darwin Coalition kicked off their fourth annual Darwin Day
observance Monday night with the well-known lecturer, evolutionist and
paleontologist Donald Prothero.
Prothero, an associate professor of geology
at Occidental College in
Los Angeles, received his Ph.D. from Columbia University.
His lecture
centered around an informative evolution slide show and disclaimed the work
of the acclaimed pro-creationist Duane Gish. In a direct response to Gish’s
academic book, Evolution? The
Fossils Say NO!, Prothero’s presentation was titled “Evolution: The
Fossils Say YES!.”
Prothero quickly tried to change the audience’s
misconceptions about evolution.
“It is a narrow sectarian view of a
minority of fundamentalists who try to paint a
ll opponents as atheists,” Prothero said. “Many religions, including
Protestantism, Catholicism, and many forms of Judaism, have long come to
terms with the theory of evolution,” he added.
While evolution was the main
topic of the lecture, Prothero openl
y attacked Gish and his creation theories. Prothero frequently referred to
Gish’s beliefs as the “big lie.”
“He speaks to an audience one way and
differently to others; (creationists) are great hypocrites,” he
said.
Prothero continued by stating that sc
ientists are unfairly stereotyped by Hollywood and much of society as
individuals in white lab coats in mad search for the ultimate
truth.
“Science is characterized by tentative conclusions, no final answers
are possible,” Prothero said. “The evidence is
overwhelming that life has evolved throughout time. However, how life has
evolved is still under discussion. No matter what mechanism we find, it
does not change that life has evolved.”
Prothero presented numerous
examples of evolution in his slide show
. He concentrated on the fossils of the transitional forms in evolution. He
proposed the lineage of several different species, including whales, birds
and amphibians.
Prothero made several distinct points: the internal hip and
thigh bones of the whale me
ans they once had hind legs; a human’s DNA is 98 percent identical to that
of a chimpanzee’s; snakes hear with several bones in their lower jaw and
these bones gradually shifted over time to form the anvil and hammer in the
mammal ear.
Overall, the audie
nce seemed rather impressed with Prothero’s presentation. Glenn Jackson, a
member of the East Tennessee Creation Science Association, was in
attendance of the lecture and admitted it was important to educate society
about evolution.
“However, we must not
try to convert people, but rather, show people the scientific data and
have them derive their own interpretation,” Jackson said. Jackson, a
science educator at Carson-Newman, said he tries to fairly show his
students both sides of the argument.
Mitch Cr
uzan, vice president of the Coalition, said he was disappointed with
Prothero’s tactics of disclaiming creation, but admitted his ideas and
theories about evolution were concrete.
The Coalition has three other
lectures planned in celebration of Darwin Da
y 2000. The conflict between evolution and religion will again be the
subject on April 10, when Michael Ruse will present “Darwinism and Atheism:
A Marriage Made in Heaven?” The other two lectures are planned for Feb. 10
and March 13.
“The evolution-crea
tion controversy will not go away any time soon,” said Massimo Pigliucci,
president of the Coalition. “Recent decisions by school boards in several
states make it painfully obvious that the public needs to be educated on
the issue and that scientists must
do their part.”
