Peppered Moths Still Haunting University Halls
I honestly could not believe what I was hearing. I was sitting at a lunch table on March 11, 2010, with a student from a local university who was retelling something that had happened to him fairly recently in one of his university classes. This young man started his university career as a biology major. In one of his classes, the professor proceeded to explain that English peppered moths were an excellent example of natural selection that helps verify Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. The young man, fully aware of the vast research showing the peppered moth information to be in error, approached the professor and explained several of the problems associated with the peppered moth example. The professor had never heard there were problems with the research and asked the student to supply him with a list of resources pertaining to the subject. The young man told me that he typed up about two and a half pages of references for the professor. According to the student, the professor was shocked, and proceeded to take the material to his superior.
The startling aspect of this story is the fact that the English peppered moth research has been debunked for years. Jonathan Wells did a superlative job of dismantling it as an icon of evolution ten years ago (2000), and since then others have also been successful in bringing to light its flaws (see Harrub, 2003). Yet the young man’s testimony is evidence that many, even professors on the university level, have never been exposed to the facts about the English peppered moths, and probably about many other cherished, and equally false, “evidences” for evolution.
Listening to this student reminded me of a very important facet of our responsibility as Christians and apologists. We must not assume that because we have seen information that refutes evolutionary teaching, others are equally aware of it. It is our job to exhaust our efforts and resources to continue to disseminate the truth and validity of biblical creation, as well as to bring to light the perennial flaws of evolutionary theory. By educating just one more student, professor, church member, parent, or child, we may be influencing the next college professor, scientific researcher, or president of the United States with the truth.
REFERENCES
Harrub, Brad (2003), “Peppered with Dishonesty,” [On-line], URL: https://apologeticspress.org/articles/2365.
Wells, Jonathan (2000), Icons of Evolution (Washington, DC: Regnery).
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