Evolution lies at the very core of atheism. To account for the existence of the incredibly complex and awesome creation that is all around us, the atheist must somehow do away with the need for a Creator. Evolution is his essential bastion of belief, and its demise would be a prospect too appalling to contemplate.

The Christian, on the other hand, can derive great comfort from the apostle Paul’s statement in Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead.” This is as true today as it was in the first century. Creation is truly one of the great proofs of God’s existence and power.

As the world’s leading secular religion, evolution has come under increasing attack in recent years from within the scientific community. Critics traditionally include the so-called “creation scientists,” those professing fundamentalist Christianity and a belief in divine creation. However, their numbers now include an increasing number of noted scientists who have attacked the theory on purely scientific grounds. Included in this latter group is Michael Behe, professor of biochemistry at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, who in 1996 published a book titled Darwin’s Black Box.

Although Dr. Behe seems determined to maintain a clear boundary between science and religion, he claims that the evidence presented in his book proves the impossibility of life having evolved. He does list a few examples of creationist writers getting their facts wrong, but considers that, in general, the response of evolutionists to the creationist arguments has been totally inadequate.

The title of his book is based on the fact that, to Darwin, the workings of the cell were a complete mystery—a “black box.” Darwin had to concede that for his theory to be credible, science had to show that life, at least at the cellular level, was relatively simple. In fact, science—especially biochemistry, a branch of science little more than 50 years old—has shown the diametric opposite.

Proof at the cellular level

Here is a partial example of Dr. Behe’s description of how the eye sees (biochemically speaking): “When light first strikes the retina a photon interacts with a molecule called 11-cis-retinal, which rearranges within picoseconds to transretinal. The change in the shape of the retinal molecule forces a change in the shape of the protein, rhodopsin, to which the retinal is tightly bound…” (Darwin’s Black Box, pp. 18-19). This mind-numbing description continues for 2 1/2 more paragraphs, but the explanation is not yet finished! He devotes another two paragraphs to the cell’s procedures to turn off the proteins and revert to its previous state. This, he says, is “a sketchy overview” of the biochemistry of vision. According to a footnote, readers who want a more complete version are directed to pages 938-954 of a biochemistry textbook!

Prospective readers should not be put off, however, by the foregoing. For the most part, the text is surprisingly readable and quite often entertaining. He makes liberal use of everyday analogies to explain his points, some of which are quite colorful (such as how a man’s neighbor claimed to have jumped across the hundred-foot chasm separating their properties!). He uses the construction of a mousetrap to explain the concept of an “irreducibly complex system.” And he scoffs at one evolutionist’s attempt to explain a supposed evolutionary development by likening it to an attempt to explain the workings of a stereo system as “plugging a set of speakers into an amplifier, and adding a CD player, radio receiver and tape deck.”

In the second part of the book, phenomena such as blood clotting and antibodies are discussed in detail. The third part includes a presentation of many aspects of scientific history such as the Big Bang theory. Although Dr. Behe is not a creationist, he appears to offer a very even-handed evaluation of the debate between evolution and its critics. For example, he states, that theologian William Paley’s 19th-century work Natural Theology is generally considered to have been thoroughly discredited by evolutionist Richard Dawkins and others; yet, in his opinion, none of Paley’s arguments against evolution were ever really answered!

In the concluding paragraph of his book, Dr. Behe hints at the startling conclusions of biochemical research: “The simplicity that was once expected to be the foundation of life has proven to be a phantom; instead, systems of horrendous, irreducible complexity inhabit the cell. The resulting realization that life was designed by an intelligence is a shock to us in the twentieth century who have gotten used to thinking of life as the result of simple, natural laws” (ibid, p. 252, emphasis mine).

Dr. Behe is one of a new breed of scientist willing to break the conspiracy of silence within the scientific community on Darwin’s flawed theory. As a result of his research, we as Christians can echo more than ever the words of the Psalmist: “For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well” (Psalm 139:13-14, New Revised Standard Version).

With science unable to answer the awkward questions evolution does not address, a new school of thought is emerging that tries to explain the origins of the universe. “Intelligent design” is a controversial new movement consisting largely of academics and scientists who recognize that the Darwinian model of evolution is erroneous. They insist that life must have begun with an “Intelligent Designer.”

However, the movement does not acknowledge God as the Creator of the universe, and it tries to marry creation and evolution. It is a hybrid of truth and error. Agape Press quotes an article in The New York Times that says legislators in Michigan and Pennsylvania are working on incorporating intelligent design into the school curriculum. Earlier this year, an hour-long program examining intelligent design was aired on CBC Radio.

For more valuable information, read the following three free booklets: Is the Bible True? and Creation or Evolution: Does It Really Matter What You Believe? and Life’s Ultimate Question: Does God Exist?