Tim Butram

Environmental Science
8th Period
Theories 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 Butram
Environmental Science
8th Period
view, 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 Butram
Environmental Science
8th Period
the 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 Butram
Environmental 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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