Andrew Fiala is just plain wrong (The Bee, June 3). In criticizing the Rev. Franklin Graham’s views on public schools, Fiala states: “Science and the humanities offer a method of investigation. They do not propose a body of dogmatic truth.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Public schools do promote a religious belief — the belief that there is no God.
Science as taught in public schools does indeed propose a body of dogmatic truth. It is the belief system of naturalism — there is no God and everything in the universe came about by chance. Abiogenesis — the belief that life originated by chance in the primordial soup — is taught as fact. Evolution — the belief that all species developed by chance by random incremental mutation from the first living cell acted on by natural selection — is taught as fact.
But scientific evidence does not support either of these assertions. The only evidence for chance origin of life is that amino acids can be produced by natural methods from inorganic precursors in a reducing atmosphere. This was established by Stanley Miller in 1952. But all subsequent experiments aimed at producing life by chance have failed. Why? Because the simplest possible form of life — the first living cell — is not simple. This was established in 2016 by J. Craig Venter and his team at Stanford. The simplest possible living cell has 473 genes and 531,000 base pairs of DNA all in precise sequential order. Nothing simpler than this is life. Nothing simpler can survive under natural conditions. And this level of complexity cannot be the result of chance.
How do we know this? We apply the scientific criteria of forensics. The conclusion is clear. Life is designed. Similarly, when the hundreds of changes in DNA base pairs needed for a new species is noted, there is no way this can happen by chance random mutation of DNA. Adaptation of species does occur. This is clear from studies of finch beaks in the Galapagos. But new species requiring hundreds of DNA changes are not possible by chance mutation.
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Science is clear. Life and species did not develop by chance. But scientific evidence is ignored in public schools because the belief system of naturalism prevails.
Dr. J. Philip A. Hinton, is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He lives in Fresno.