Devolution (biology) - Creationist Use

Creationist Use

According to Christian creationists, devolution is:

A theory of origins based on scripture which begins with the ultimate complexity of all living things at the time of creation. This was followed by degeneration and the break down of all living things on the genetic level beginning at the Curse (Genesis 3) and continuing to this day with increased momentum.

The term was used in the play Inherit the Wind (a parable that fictionalizes the 1925 Scopes "Monkey" Trial), when the character of Matthew Brady (representative of William Jennings Bryan) argued that "Ladies and gentleman, devolution is not a theory but a cold fact ... the ape devolved from man", mocking evolutionary theory by offering an alternative he considers just as plausible. During the Scopes Trial itself, a report in The New York Times said "After flocking to view the monkeys, Dayton has decided that it was not man who evolved from the anthropoid, but the anthropoid which devolved from man; and it points now at the two chimpanzees and the "missing link" to prove the assertion". The suggestion of ape degenerating from "man" had already been brought up by the early young-earth creationist George McReady Price in a work published before the trial:

Accordingly, by every just rule of comparison and analogy, we may well declare that if there is any blood relationship between man and the anthropoid apes, it is the latter which have degenerated from the former, instead of the former having developed from the latter. I do not say that this is the true solution of this enigma; but I do say that there is far more scientific evidence in favour of this hypothesis than there ever has been in favour of the long popular theory that man is a developed animal.

An early creationist to discuss devolution was the ornithologist Douglas Dewar, writing about the subject of the fossil record for the carboniferous period Dewar wrote:

A few of the carboniferous insects were larger than any now existing; one of the dragon-flies had a wing-span of 28 inches. This suggests devolution rather than evolution!

The Young Earth creationist Ken Ham claims Adam and Eve were made into a state of perfection, with perfect DNA, no mistakes or mutations and that because of man sinning against God in Genesis of the Bible, that God cursed the ground and animals and sentenced man to die. Ham claims this is where mutations come from, and the incredible amount of genetic information that God had created at the beginning has been devolving ever since; according to Ham organisms in nature are losing genetic information.

Creationists like Ham claim that mutations lead to a loss of genetic information and this is evidence for devolution. Ken Ham for example has stated:

Observations confirm that mutations overwhelmingly cause a loss of information, not a net gain, as evolution requires.

Young Earth creationist Joseph Mastropaolo, argues that "Change over time, 'definition one' of evolution, actually describes devolution to extinction, the exact opposite of evolution.... actual epidemiological data from human genetic disorders and fatal birth defects, identify 'natural selection,' the alleged 'primary mechanism' for evolution, as actually a mechanism for devolution to extinction, the exact opposite of evolution." and elsewhere, "Evolution is the development of an organism from its chemicals or primitive state to its present state. Devolution is the sequence toward greater simplicity or disappearance or degeneration."

John C. Sanford, a plant geneticist and creationist, has argued for devolution; he has written a book entitled Genetic Entropy & the Mystery of the Genome (2005) in which he claims that the genome is deteriorating and therefore could not have evolved in the way specified by the Modern evolutionary synthesis. Sanford has published two peer reviewed papers modeling genetic entropy.

The creationist author Lee Spetner is a critic of the role of mutations in the modern evolutionary synthesis, he has argued in his book Not by Chance: Shattering the Modern Theory of Evolution that mutations cause devolution.

Peter Stoner an old earth creationist claimed that the universe was immensely old, writing on astronomy he wrote that "every star is losing energy and mass", he claimed that the second law of thermodynamics proves "cosmic devolution".

Brian Regal associates devolution with the work of dentist and creationist Jack Cuozzo. Cuozzo in his book Buried Alive (1998) claims that Neanderthal dentition proves that the Neanderthals lived much longer than modern humans and that modern humans have devolved, according to Cuozzo "it seems as if human jaws are becoming smaller over time".

The concept of devolution is also found in the teachings of Hindu creationism. Michael Cremo a member of ISKCON has authored a book titled Human Devolution: A Vedic alternative to Darwin's theory, published by ISKCON's Bhaktivedanta Book Publishing, Cremo suggests that Darwinian evolution should be replaced with "devolution" from the original unity with Brahman.

Examples of devolution cited by creationists, include vestigial organs, Stickleback, Amblyopsidae and the Greta oto. Evolutionary biologists point out that examples such as this are not evidence for devolution and the creationists have misunderstood the mechanisms of evolution.