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The concept of natural selection lies at the very root of Darwinism, a claim emphasized even in the title of the book in which Charles Darwin set out his theory: The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. Ever Since Darwin, evolutionists' greatest endeavors have been aimed at proving his claim.
The linguist Steven Pinker, one of Darwinism's foremost spokesmen, expresses the importance that natural selection holds for evolutionists: "Because there are no alternatives, we would almost have to accept natural selection as the explanation of life on this planet even if there were no evidence for it." 320
In his book How Does the Mind Work? Pinker's first example of evolution by way of natural selection is the story of melanism in the moths. As you have already seen, however, this is a tale of no scientific value at all. But in the absence of any evidence as to its veracity, evolutionists assume that evolution is true, as Pinker does, and seek to adapt everything else to this thesis. That being the case, a story such as that of the Industrial Revolution moths, which clearly conflicts with scientific facts, is still credited out of devotion to Darwinism.
The American biologist Dr. Jonathan Wells stresses that this is a belief held to be true:
No scientist with any integrity would point to the peppered myth as "a core example of natural selection." Without evidence, the assertion that melanism in peppered moths was due to natural selection is a faith-statement, not a scientific inference. 321
In his book Icons of Evolution, Wells devotes particular attention to the tale in question and sets out his conclusion:
In 1986, evolutionary biologist John Endler wrote a book entitled Natural Selection in the Wild, now acknowledged to be a classic in the field. At the time, Endler was unaware of the problems being unearthed in the peppered moth story, so he listed it as one of the few cases in which the cause of natural selection was known. But he also declared that "the time has passed for ‘quick and dirty' studies of natural selection." Although most researchers are "satisfied in demonstrating merely that natural selection occurred," Endler wrote, "This is equivalent to demonstrating a chemical reaction, and then not investigating its causes and mechanisms. A strong demonstration of natural selection combined with a lack of knowledge of its reasons and mechanisms is no better than alchemy."
... Kettlewell's evidence for natural selection is flawed, and the actual causes of the change remain hypothetical. As a scientific demonstration of natural selection—as "Darwin's missing evidence"— industrial melanism in peppered moths is no better than alchemy. 322
In the Middle Ages, alchemists mixed copper with various other substances and believed that copper could be turned into gold through the method of trial and error. Science, however, has clearly revealed that no matter how many experiments they perform, alchemists will never succeed and that their hope is merely a dream. Evolutionists who seek to account for the origin of species in terms of mutations and natural selection are facing exactly the same defeat as the alchemists. Scientific discoveries are shattering Darwinists' hopes and demonstrating the invalidity of their evidence.
Contrary to evolutionist assumptions, these mechanisms have no properties that can cause one species to change into another. The Industrial-Revolution moth, a tale that is cited as an example of evolution through natural selection at every available opportunity, is one of evolutionists' unforgettable errors.
References
- Steven Pinker, How the Mind Works, London: Penguin:, 1998, p. 162. ↩
- Jonathan Wells, "Significance of the Peppered Moth Argument," Access Research Network, 2000, http://ğ.arn.org/docs/wells/jw_significancepm.htm ↩
- Jonathan Wells, Icons of Evolution, New York: Regnery Publishing, Inc., 2000, p. 155.; John Endler, Natural Selection in the Wild, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1986, p. 164. ↩