WHY IS DENYING THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION PORTRAYED AS REJECTING DEVELOPMENT AND PROGRESS?

THE word "evolution" has been used in several senses in recent times.
A social aspect has been added to it, for instance, and theword has
come to mean human progress and technological development. There is
nothing wrong with the concept of "evolution" when it is used in this
sense. There is no doubt that man will use his intelligence,
knowledge, and strength to develop over time. The sum of human
knowledge will grow from generation to generation. In the same way
that this is not evidence for the theory of evolution itself, which
seeks to explain the emergence of life by chance, neither does it
conflict in any way with the fact of creation.
Yet evolutionists engage in a facile word game here, and confuse a
true concept with a false one. For example, it is true to state that
"On account of man's long years of living as a social being, his
knowledge, culture, and technology are in a constant state of
development." (We must remember, however, that there can be regression
over time as well as progress. Sociologically speaking, there have
been times of progress, as well as times of stagnation and
regression.) However, the claim that "In the same way as man has
developed and progressed, living species have also advancedand changed
over time" is completely false. Although it is perfectly logical and
scientific to say that, as a thinking being, man's knowledge has
increased and been passed on to subsequent generations, allowing
constant progress, it is utterly senseless to claim that living
species developed and evolved by chance and coincidence, in accordance
with uncontrolled and unconscious natural conditions.
The greatest names in the advancement of science were all creationists
No matter how much evolutionists try to identify themselves with
concepts such as innovation and progress, history has shown that the
real initiators of innovation and progress have always been faithful
scientists who have believed in divine creation.
We see the mark of such believing scientists at every point of
scientific progress. Leonardo da Vinci, Copernicus, Kepler, and
Galileo, who opened a new era in astronomy, Cuvier, the founder of
paleontology, Linnaeus, the founder of the modern classification
system forplants and animals, Isaac Newton, the discoverer of the law
of gravity, Edwin Hubble, who discovered the existence of the galaxies
and the expansion of the universe, and many othershave believed in God
and that life and the universe were created by Him.
One of the greatest scientists of the twentieth century, Albert Einstein, said:
I cannot conceive of a genuine scientist without that profound faith.
The situation may be expressed by an image: science without religion
is lame...1
The German Max Planck, who laid the foundations of modern physics, said:
Anybody who has been seriouslyengaged in scientific work of anykind
realises that over the entrance to the gates of the temple of science
are written the words: Ye must have faith. Itis a quality which the
scientist cannot dispense with.2
The history of science reveals that change and progress have been the
work of creationist scientists. On the other hand, of course,
scientific developments in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries
especially have allowed us to come by countlesspieces of evidence of
creation. Modern science and technology have allowed us to discover
the fact that the universe came into being from nothing, in other
words that it was "created." It isa fact accepted by the whole
scientific world that the universecame into being and developed as a
result of the explosion of one single point. In this way, themodel of
the infinite universe, with no beginning or end, maintained by
materialists under the primitive scientific conditions of the
nineteenth century has been destroyed. It has been realised that the
universe was created, as it says in the Qur'an, and that it has a
beginning and frontiers and has expanded over time. The Qur'an
expresses this fact thus:
Do those who disbelieve not seethat the heavens and the Earth were
sewn together and then We unstitched them and that We made from water
every living thing? So will they not believe? (Surat al-Anbiya,30)
It is We Who have built the universe with (Our Creative) power, and
verily, it is We Who are steadily expanding it. (Surat adh-Dhariyat,
47)
It was again twentieth century scientific progress that allowed us to
discover more evidence of the design in life. The electron microscope
revealed the structure of the cell, the smallest unit of life, as well
as the parts that comprise it. The discovery of DNA demonstrated the
infinite intelligence in the cell. Biochemical and physiological
advances have shown the flawless workings at the molecular level of
the body, and its superior design which cannot be explained by
anythingother than creation.
As opposed to all this, it was theprimitive state of science 150 years
ago that prepared the ground for the formation of the theory of
evolution.
In conclusion, it is impossible to consider those who believe in
creation, and who constantly provide new evidence of it, as being
opposed to progress, development, and science. On the contrary, such
people are their greatest supporters. Those who actually oppose
progress are those who turn their backs on all the scientific evidence
and defend the theory of evolution, which is nothing but an
unsubstantiated fantasy.
1. Science, Philosophy and Religion, A Symposium, published by the
Conference on Science, Philosophy and Religion in Their Relation to
the Democratic Way of Life, Inc., New York, 1941, (emphasis added)
2. Max Planck, Where Is Science Going?, Allen & Unwin, 1933, p.214,
(emphasis added)