CREATION to EVOLUTIONDiverse Views of How the Giraffe got its Long

Neck(pictured is a Golden-crowned Kinglet, not a giraffe)

• AFACCT Conference• January 9th, 2003• Chesapeake College

• Presented by Dr. David Thorndill

• Professor of Biology• CCBC Essex

Evolutionism Creationism

• 1. All species change and have descended from another species

• 2. All life began with one (or a few) original species

• 3. Organisms have been on earth for billions of years.

• 1. All species have undergone minor changes

• 2. All species were instantaneously created fully formed

• 3. The Creation of all species took place a few thousand years ago.

MAIN FEATURES OF:

EVOLUTIONARY BIBLICAL SYNTHESIS CREATIONISM• Natural Selection (Darwin)

– All species have variations– Few offspring survive to reproduce– Some variations have a better

chance of survival

• Mutation– DNA replication makes rare

mistakes that may produce altered proteins and new variations

• Speciation– A new species may develop

through mutation and selection

• Genesis– Genesis is part of sacred texts

in Islam, Judaism, Christianity (Bible)

– Some sects believe in literal interpretations

• Creation– In six days God created the

earth and all modern species (no speciation)

– Creation was a few thousand years ago (Bishop James Ussher calculated Creation was in 4004 B.C.)

THE JOURNEY to EVOLUTION

• Geological Uniformitarianism James Hutton (1785) Theory of the EarthCharles Lyell (1830) Principles of GeologyAlfred Wegener (1915) The Origin of Continents-

• Jean Baptiste Lamarck 1800-Theory of Acquired Characteristics

• Charles Darwin (1859) On the Origin of Species , Theory of Natural Selection

• Modern Synthetic Evolutionary Theory (~1920) synthesis of theories of Natural Selection and Mutations

BIBLICAL CREATIONISM• Literal interpretation of Genesis: God created the earth and

all species; great flood of Noah• Bishop James Ussher (1630) calculated Creation took place

in 4004 B.C.• Georges Cuvier (early 1800s) proponent of geological

catastrophism (young earth)• Giraffe- God created the first giraffes 6000 years ago and

today’s giraffes have descended from them with few changes• Scientific creationism-the theory that a scientific

examination of data supports the view that God created the earth and all species