Statements on evolution in Earthweek need clarification

Steve Newman’s “Earthweek: Diary of a Changing World” is often engaging and factual.

However, in this Sunday Herald he talks about extinction and species that “evolved with resistance to the pathogen.” This has been a fairly recent phenomenon that happened since the 1980s. Most all evolutionists state that it takes millions of years for a single evolutionary event to express itself. One must conclude that this is an adaptation event, not an evolution event.

“While not all species have evolved quickly enough” is a statement running counter to evolutionary theory. It is also a scientific fact that there has never been one single evolutionary act observed. Ancient ages are often posited by evolutionists as required for evolution events.

Mr. Newman’s explanation for the “African Divide” event is quotable here “The East African Rift Valley is splitting the African Tectonic Plate in two.” This is an impossible description of what is actually happening. In fact, science has been studying this fairly current phenomenon. It is an accurate description of the processes to state that the tectonic plate splitting is the driving force for the observed surface cracks in the Rift Valley and not the opposite. In geological time, it may not take “50 million years” for the separation to take place. Some geological processes can and do move violently and rapidly.

Samuel Bess

Stanwood