Freethinker Evolution Pop Quiz
- Evolution denies the existence of God.
- FALSE. Evolution does not deny the existence of the supernatural and is compatible with the existence of a divine creator. Millions of Christians believe that God created human beings through the process of evolution.
- Evolution is a theory, not a fact.
- FALSE. Evolution is a theory and a fact. In science, the word theory has a specific meaning which differs from the common meaning of “hunch” or “guess.” Scientific theories explain a class of facts and observations, make predictions consistent with natural law and are testable. Evolution has withstood rigorous testing for 130 years and is a well established fact.
- The 1993 International Social Survey ranked 21 nations on “Knowledge about Human Evolution” and found that Americans ranked last.
- TRUE. Want to know why creationism is still an issue among the public in the US and not in other countries? Because Americans have a very poor understanding evolution.
- There are competing alternative scientific theories besides evolution to explain the origin of humans.
- FALSE. There are no competing scientific theories. Creation stories, as well as "Intelligent Design" creationism, are not scientific, have no theory, have no evidence, make no predictions and cannot be tested. While there are hundreds of unverifiable competing creation stories and myths, the testable, verifiable scientific theory of evolution has had no competition for 130 years.
- Evolution requires that humans are the result of pure chance.
- FALSE. Evolution could not occur if it depended only upon random process. However the mechanisms of evolution such as natural selection and sexual selection are nonrandom, non-chance processes. Genetic mutation randomly produces a large pool of potential survivors, who are then weeded out in the nonrandom natural selection process. In poker, the cards in your hand are randomly dealt but who wins, like who survives in evolution, is not random.
- The earth is 6-10 thousand years old.
- FALSE. There are several dozen well established lines of independent evidence, from varying scientific disciplines, that disprove a 6 to 10,000 year old earth. The young earth hypothesis was refuted by creationists long before Darwin. All young earth arguments have been refuted and have no good evidence in their favor.
*See our pamphlet on the age of the earth.
- Darwin’s theory of evolution addresses the origin of life and the universe.
- FALSE. Evolution is a theory only about the modification of existing life forms over time. Evolution says absolutely nothing about the origin of life or the universe, and it’s not supposed to.
- The fossil record shows there are many transitional forms.
- TRUE. There are thousands of well documented transitional forms. No informed, conscientious person denies this. Ask for a free copy of our short list of transitional forms.
- Evolution of species has never been observed.
- FALSE. The evolution of new species has been observed in nature as well as in the laboratory many times and this process is well documented in the fossil record.
- Humans and dinosaurs never existed at the same time.
- TRUE. The Flintstones was not a documentary! The fossil record shows that dinosaurs became extinct 65 million years before humans came on the scene. That’s a long time. The geological column was well established many years before Darwin and is undisputed. Humans are never found in the column anywhere near the time of when the dinosaurs lived. (Note: In a survey, 42% of Americans answered this question incorrectly!)
- Scientists have established that there was a global worldwide flood.
- FALSE. Geological evidence such as sand dunes, dinosaur nesting sites and meteor impact craters in the geologic column refute the idea of a worldwide flood. Large floods leave behind good evidence, and there is no such evidence in the geological record. With no evidence for it and good evidence against it, science has long ago rejected the idea of a worldwide flood.
- If evolution is true, it would violate well known scientific laws such as the 2nd law of thermodynamics.
- FALSE. Claims that evolution violates scientific principles are almost always based on creationist ignorance of the conditions under which scientific laws apply. For example, the 2nd law only applies to closed systems and the Earth is not such a system.
- "Irreducibly complex" biological characteristics like the flagellum
are indicators of design.
- FALSE. Evolution is capable of producing very intricate systems. The arguments that these systems could not have evolved without intelligent intervention largely ignore evolutionary mechanisms such as co-option (a.k.a. exaptation) and gene duplication.
- Evolution is a theory in crisis.
- FALSE. Contrary to what many creationists claim, evolution is not being rejected by scientists. It is a biological fact that is strengthened by discoveries in science every year.
“No other biological concept has been more extensively tested and more thoroughly corroborated than the evolutionary history of organisms.” –-Science and Creationism, A View from the National Academy of Sciences, pg. 22