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An essay I wrote about the differing sides of evolution and creationism.
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Tim ButramEnvironmental Science
8th PeriodTheories of Evolution and Creationism
Both evolution and creationism have their sides. Evolution deals with the idea that all
life evolved through time to what we now have today. Creationism is the idea that God
has created all life within a shorter time span the evolution. While both may seem as if
they are mutually exclusive to an uneducated eye, they can work together. However, the
theory of evolution is more logical, as compared with creationism.
Creationism, as stated before, states that God created every living thing within 10
thousand years. While a hard-core believer in evolution immediately discounts
creationism, there is evidence that the earth and universe were created within 10 thousand
years. One such proof would be the decay of the earth’s magnetic field. If the magnetic
field has decayed at the rate it has been decaying now, several million years ago the earth
would have the magnetic field of a magnetic star, which would prevent life from
occurring. Another fact is the global flood, which occurred in Noah’s time. Sedimentary
layers show that a great flood may of occurred in that time period. Finally, the levels of
helium-4 in the atmosphere lean toward the earth being formed within 10-thousand years.
Helium-4 comes from outside the atmosphere. If the rate of accumulation has stayed
constant, then that gives an approximate length of at, namely 10 thousand years. So
contrary to the pure evolutionary idea, creationism does have legitimate evidence for
creationism.
Evolution on the other hand states that all life as we know it, has randomly occurred, in a
lengthy process of several billion years. Much of the scientific field agrees with this
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Tim ButramEnvironmental Science
8th Periodview, as much of the evidence can be tested, and does not rely on faith to pull the theory
through. One such evidence in favor of evolution is the genetic code that all life on earth
has. This code is very similar between different species, showing that life may of come
from common ancestors. Another idea is that natural selection can produce evolution.
Natural selection is the process of nature removing the weak and useless from the
environment. Also, such an action has been proved and shown, and it does not contradict
with other standards of life, such as creationism, and is generally accepted by all sides.
Natural selection causes change within a population, which in turn, could cause
evolution. Finally, the fossil record gives a helpful boost to the Theory of Evolution.
The fossil record shows the gradual amount of change throughout the earth’s age.
Earlier, more primitive species, such as bacterium, compose the fossils of the earliest
times. Further on, higher up on the strata, there are more complex organisms, such as
multi-cellular flora and fauna. Contrary to creationism’s view, evolution does have some
good evidence supporting it.
While creationism has it’s merits, and has some evidence that it could be right, I disagree
with creationism. Personally I am an agnostic person. The idea of a higher power is
something that I, am not able to comprehend or prove, so it lacks purpose to argue about
whether there is a God, or there is not a God. So, in effect I am forced to make my
decision about the amount and the quality of evidence, which is both reliable and can be
proven to happen. Experiments such as Millar and Urey show that with the early
atmosphere on earth, the basic compounds of life can be created. Much of the evidence
for creationism is largely faith based. While, that is fine for someone who is religious,
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Tim ButramEnvironmental Science
8th Periodthe addition of, “I don’t know how it worked, so God did it”, sounds childish, and does
not convince me. Evolution has a lot of testable evidence, and while it does not answer
every question, it tries to, without giving up and saying “it is that way, because it is that
way.” That is why I believe that evolution is the correct theory.
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Tim ButramEnvironmental Science
8th Period
Bibliography:
http://www.creationevidence.org/scientific_evid/evidencefor/evidencefor.html
http://anthro.palomar.edu/evolve/evolve_3.htm
http://newton.nap.edu/html/creationism/evidence.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evidence_of_evolution
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