lab@qubix.UUCP (Q-Bick) (11/09/84)
[The following appeared as a column in the San Jose Mercury-News editor-
ial section, 10 July 1984. Reproduced in full without comment. I asked
the Merc for permission; the lady said she would provide me the address of
the proper contact at Probe. I'm still waiting. I have not read either
the Smithsonian article or the book mentioned, but would like to.]
==========
RESPECTABLE CREATIONISTS
By Kerby Anderson
The June issue of Smithsonian magazine includes a fascinating article on
"The Search for Life's Origin." In fact, I might even be persuaded to
believe most of it, if I weren't also reading one of the most
devastating critiques of the theory of chemical evolution ever written.
The authors (Thaxton, Bradley and Olsen) of this new book, _The Mystery
of Life's Origin: Reassessing Current Theories_, bring a significant
amount of academic brainpower to the discussion - holding doctorates in
chemistry, engineering and geochemistry respectively. But the authors
are more than just professors or researchers. They are - dare I say it?
- creationists.
This is not apparent by glancing at the cover. The book features
enthusiastic evaluations by such notables as Robert jastrow, former
director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and Robert Shapiro,
New York University chemistry professor and co-author of _Life Beyond
Earth_. The foreword is written by San Francisco State Professor Dean
Kenyon, author of _Biochemical Predestination_. The book, in fact,
wasn't even produced by a publisher sympathetic to creationism.
This is certainly a refreshing change. Creationists can be their own
worst enemies because they often present questionable research in books
produced by obscure publishers. Creationists then become angry because
they are routinely ignored. But they forget that any theory must earn
the right to be heard.
_The Mystery of Life's Origins_ earns that right with original research
and penetrating critique. The authors raise troubling questions about
the legitimacy of chemical simulations of supposed prebiotic conditions.
Their pages of mathematical equations and chemical formulas deal signif-
icant blows to the theory that life arose on this planet by chance.
The book is so full of fresh and original critiques of chemical
evolution that Professor Kenyon devotes part of his foreword to a
discussion of why similar criticisms have not been previously voiced by
other workers in the field. He suggests that scientists hesitate to
pursue these problems because they "would open the door to the
possibility (or the necessity) of a supernatural origin of life."
Alarmed by this possibility, most researchers continue their search for
a naturalistic solution, in spite of the many difficulties being brought
to light. Others, like Francis Crick and Leslie Orgel, recognize some of
the problems raised by this book and instead promote a view call
"directed panspermia." They suggest that life was brought here from
another galaxy, but this merely relocates the question of origins to
somewhere outside of our solar system.
The growing case against chemical evolution has important implications
for education. Public school textbooks routinely teach that life on
earth developed in a prebiotic soup through chemical interactions. But
this book raises serious questions about the scientific credibility of
that speculative scenario, and parents may rightly be concerned about
the educational value of indoctrinating sutdents with such a flawed
theory of origins.
_The Mystery of Life's Origin_ should be taken seriously by the
scientific and educational comunities. If it is, then a healthy
dialogue between creationists and evolutionists may emerge, and science
will progress. But if the book is summarily dismissed as nothing more
than "creationist claptrap," then the scientific establishment will have
proven that it really accommodates only one ideology within its ranks.
The establishment must remember that unpopular ideas often prove to be
correct. One of those ideas may be that life on this planet did not
start through random chemical reactions.
-----------------------
Kerby Anderson is a columnist with Probe, a Christian think-tank in Dallas.
--
The Ice Floe of Larry Bickford
{amd,decwrl,sun,idi,ittvax}!qubix!lab
You can't settle the issue until you've settled how to settle the issue.