Claim CB901.1:
Species may undergo minor changes, but the range of variation is limited
to variation within kinds.
Source:
Morris, Henry M., 1974. Scientific Creationism, Green Forest, AR: Master
Books, pp.
51-52, 87-88.
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 1985. Life--How Did It Get
Here? Brooklyn, NY, 109.
Response:
- What is a "kind"? Creationists have identified kinds with everything
from species to entire kingdoms. By the narrower definitions,
variation to new kinds has occurred. By the broader definitions, we
would not expect to see it in historical time.
- Helacyton gartleri shows one example of change that would be hard to
call anything other than a change in kind. It is an amoeba-like life
form that came from a human (Van Valen and Maoirana 1991; evolved
from a carcinoma, it spreads by taking over other laboratory cell
cultures).
- Creationists have never hinted at, much less shown, any mechanism that
would limit variation. Without such a mechanism, we would expect to
see kinds vary over time, becoming more and more different from what
they were at a given time in the past.
References:
- Van Valen, Leigh M. and Virginia C. Maiorana, 1991. HeLa, a new
microbial species. Evolutionary Theory 10: 71-74.
created 2003-4-21, modified 2003-9-3
