News : Roundswell & Sticklepath

We hear a lot about evolution today.  We are taught it as a fact in our schools and colleges.  We see it on television, we read about it in our magazines.  No doubt about it – evolution has happened.  Scientists have proved it – end of story.

Yet for all that, there always remains some doubt.  When we look at the fine intricacies of the eye, the beauty of a brightly coloured flower, or the complex machinery of the cell, we do begin to    wonder.  How could all the amazingly complex plants and animals have come about by chance?  Could it really have got itself all together by itself, with no outside help?  And anyway, how can you prove conclusively something happened way in the past when you weren’t there?

The foundational ideas of evolution rest on two key elements – the origin of the universe and the origin of life.  The origin of the universe, or the Big Bang, says that “in the          beginning, there was nothing, and then it exploded”.  That is not verifiable by any           experiment.  When did you last see nothing explode?  Did nothing really produce the vast universe we see today?  As for the origin of life, the idea that life spontaneously comes from non living matter was clearly disproved 150 years ago by Louis Pasteur.  He showed that once all living bacteria or other organisms are killed off, life will never start on its own.  This is the basis of keeping your baked beans safe in sealed tins!

If the two foundational ideas of evolution are quite clearly unscientific and unprovable, why is evolution being promoted so vigorously in our society today?  Is it because the only other viable alternative – that God did it all – is quite unacceptable and unpalatable?  If there is a God about, then that would have implications for me, personally, that I would rather not think about.  Maybe there IS a God up there who is watching me.  Maybe there is a heaven and a hell after I die.  But I quite enjoy living my life without    someone   keeping tabs on me, so philosophically I must reject the idea of a God, even if it does give a more logical reason for my existence, and the existence of everything around me.

So what is your viewpoint?  You have the opportunity to explore these ideas further at a forthcoming meeting at Roundswell     Community Centre (next to Sainsbury’s).  It’s at 7.00 pm on Saturday 26th April, when a visiting speaker Mr Philip Bell will be giving two PowerPoint presentations, explaining clearly how things did not come about or evolve by chance on their own.  You are very welcome to come along and listen to him.  Free.