The Bookshelf...

Darwin's Black Box

By Michael J. Behe

(reviewed by Debra Conley)

*This is a sequel to Mrs. Conley’s July article: “Intelligent Design”

         How many times have you engaged in a conversation with someone who cannot accept the idea of Creation because it is not “scientific”? Have you sat under a biology or chemistry professor who “proved’ evolution by matching monkey parts to modern men and wished you had a credible, scientific rebuttal? Unfortunately, as Christians we often take a back seat to real education (i.e., truth) that can set us free of charlatan philosophies. Now Christians have available texts such as this one to use as a study companion.

         Darwin’s Black Box contains numerous scientific refutations to the theory of natural selection promoted by Charles Darwin. Michael Behe is a full Professor of Biochemistry at Lehigh University. As a scientist intrigued by recent discoveries in molecular biology, Behe responsibly gathers research information from all scientists and researchers involved in this field. His explanations of how each research project succeeds in explaining where new discoveries “fit” will not leave the layman lost in scientific jargon. The last decade has propelled such advances in the study of tiny organisms like cilia and flagella, thought by Darwin to be the simple starting point of evolution. Now we know that these organisms are extremely complex, containing thousands of specifically tailored parts. As Behe reviews evolutionary scientist’s explanations of these discoveries, he shows the reader how the research always skips the initial problem question of natural selection: How did that one very complex, tailored organism arrive on earth in the first place? Behe shows through a number of scientific experiments how many researchers now know that these organisms could not have evolved (Chapters 9, 10).  They are irreducibly complex (see July’s review of Intelligent Design.   The magnitude of these complex systems is also staggering. It’s not just about one function or trigger within each cilia or flagella. It’s about thousands of functions, triggers, and particularly the codes sent from one to another that are so intertwined that no one could have been added on through time.

        Behe also addresses the skepticism and the hard core educational community determined not to give way to any other ideas, citing such examples as for centuries respected scientists who believed the earth to be flat. Indeed, they nearly executed Galileo for continually promoting an ‘earth revolves around the sun’ theory.

        Behe defines the two approaches this way: “ Intolerance does not arise when I think that I have found the truth. Rather it comes about only when I think that, because I have found it, everyone else should agree with me. Richard Dawkins (evolutionary researcher Behe refutes) has written that anyone who denies evolution is either ‘ignorant, stupid, or insane, or wicked.’ John Maddox, editor of Nature, says, ‘it may not be long before the practice of religion must be regarded as anti-science.’ In his recent book, Darwin’s Dangerous Idea, author Daniel Dennett compares religious believers to wild animals who may have to be caged, and he says that ‘these parents may have to be prevented from misinforming their children about the truth of evolution’” (p. 250). Michael Behe gives a complete and extensive bibliography worth the price of the book.

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

By Edward Gibbon

(reviewed by Debra Conley)

*Two texts were used: an unabridged (six volumes) where detail was desired and an abridged text by D. M. Low for context reading.

         The parallels found in the early history of the ancient republic of the Roman Empire to that of the United States today are remarkable. Author Gibbon spent the majority of his life perusing biographies, government actions and documents, societal mores, and other histories in order to delve into the causes for the decline and eventual collapse of one of the world’s greatest civilizations. The Roman Empire was a model republic, copied and sought by many, including the United States. While we did not adopt all of its ideals, some are obvious: a strong military defense, a civil code strictly enforced, great respect for education, and a deep commitment to constitutional government while retaining individual freedom.

        In its infancy, Gibbon stresses that the greatness of the Roman Empire was due to its commitment to retain these principles. What happened, that the great empire lost these ideals and its place as the world leader? What lessons are in this scenario of Gibbon’s for us?

        Gibbon wrote these volumes in the eighteenth century (first published in 1776) with no knowledge of the United States at all, so we cannot assume that he directed his conclusions toward us. Yet they fit like a glove.  Perhaps the most striking parallel, because of its timeliness, is that the Roman Empire’s most dangerous failure was in its loss of control of its borders. The Empire allowed foreign ideologies to become rooted in its own educational and government systems (original chapters 31-34). These foreign bodies displaced the foundation principles of a strong republic that protected individual freedoms. Education was infiltrated with socialist ideas rather than fresh ideas, and new cultures were not a diverse variety but a carefully planned insidious infiltration (the first of these by Attila).

        The second egregious failure was in the Empire’s giving itself over to self-indulgence. Christianity was once a strong part of the Roman Empire and even in its partner of Catholicism, there was respect for religion. Constantine made it law that Christianity was to be tolerated throughout the Empire. Yet the individuals became foolish in their prosperity and gave way to self rather than to ethic. Then Emperor Julian (361-363 A.D.) reversed the Constantine edicts and persecuted Christians and Jews and restored the practices of Pagan Idol worship. This left the society without morals and creed and the party life began. No more was the individual responsible for himself, nor was he obligated to maintain dignity (p. 699, original text). Gibbon refers to this as the “decay of taste” (ibid.) and further elaborates this to be just that, the lack of taste in art, dress, manners, and even education subjects.

        There is also the matter of a constant decline in the preservation of the Empire’s history and its symbols. In chapter 71 (abridged text) Gibbon reports, “The public and private edifices, founded for eternity, lie prostrate, naked, and broken, and their ruin is the more visible by the relics that have survived” (p. 890). He continues a few sentences later by concluding, “Every successive age hastened the ruin of works of antiquity” (ibid.). We see a cataclysmic shift from attendance to important matters to obsession with sports, animal worship, and parties as another of the reasons Gibbon gives for the decline of this great Empire. These activities became primary rather than secondary, and important issues of defense and liberty took a back seat.

        Finally, Gibbon points to the domestic hostilities (his words) that permeated the country before any action was taken to abate these crimes. Citizens lived in fear of lawlessness and its consequence to them and their properties. No ruling authority was given enough power to effectively quell the violence. The law of the land became ‘if you have something I want, I’ll either steal it from you or kill you for it.’ To his credit, Gibbon reveals that his gut instinct was the decline and fall occurred when the moral base of Christianity was disregarded more than by the outward invasions. “In comparing the two, we must pronounce domestic hostility the far more ruinous to the city. The relics of Rome, the image of her pristine greatness neither time nor the barbarian can boast the merit of this tremendous destruction; it was perpetrated by her own citizens, having done with the (pagan) battering ram what the Punic hero could not accomplish with the sword” (chapter 71, p. 898/ abridged text).