The Cambrian Explosion: Proof of ID?
In our studies of Intelligent Design (ID) theory and Creation Science, I found little information that seriously challenged the theory of evolution. However, there was one event that appeared to defy the logic of Darwinian gradualism: the Cambrian Explosion. This event was presented by ID theorists as proof of design--something which science is unable to account for. Unfortunately for ID proponents, this is not the case. There are several scientific explanations for the Cambrian Explosion. I will give an account of the Cambrian Explosion, present the ID arguments relating to it, and give some scientific explanations of the event.
The so called ‘Cambrian Explosion’ was a period of rapid diversification of animal life on earth. It took place approximately 550 million years ago (it bears mentioning that estimations of geological time this far back are fairly rough). There is some dispute over just how long the ‘explosion’ lasted. Scientists traditionally proposed a duration of about 30 million years (Ward and Brownlee, p. 137). However, some new evidence collected in Russia may indicate a much shorter timescale- 5 to 10 million years (Kerr 1993, p. 1274).
The truly unique thing about the Cambrian Explosion was the rapid generation of extremely diverse life forms. Life is generally classified with a system going from broad to specific description. Kingdom, the broadest classification, describes whether a given specimen is plant, animal, fungi, protist, or moneran. The next most specific indicator is phylum. The phyla indicate the body design of a taxonomical specimen. Humans, along with all other species that poses a spinal ...
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Around 144 million years ago, began the emergence of the Ornithischian dinosaurs during the cretaceous period and diversified into North America and Asia.
The Great Awakening, occurring in 1730s American Colonies, was a religious movement that started a change in the way people in the colonies viewed religion. The movement started with fears of clergymen that western expansion, commercial development, and lack of
The Second Great Awakening was extremely influential in sparking the idea of reform in the minds of people across America. Most people in America just accepted things the way they were until this time. Reforms took place due to the increase of industrial growth, increasing immigration, and new ways of communication throughout the United States. Charles Grandison Finney was one of the main reasons the Second Great Awakening was such a great success. “Much of the impulse towards reform was rooted in the revivals of the broad religious movement that swept the Untied State after 1790” (Danzer, Klor de Alva, Krieger, Wilson, and Woloch 240). Revivals during the Second Great Awakening awakened the faith of people during the 1790s with emotional preaching from Charles Finney and many other influential preachers, which later helped influence the reforms of the mid-1800s throughout America.
The year 1942 marked a division in the contemporary world history. There were a number of developments that would bring enormous effects for the Old and the New World Wars. The discovery of these developments changed the diets of both the western and eastern regions, assisted in initiating the Atlantic slave trade, and spread illnesses that had a destructive effect on populations in India, and resulted in the creation of European colonies across the Western region (Cohen and Rosenzwei 124). This paper is focused on establishing the main events that made England to gain control over the Atlantic and establishing settlements in North America. The paper also explores the major events that led to the demise of Spanish power in the Atlantic. This will be done through looking at a number of factors including commerce, the rise of competing nations that presented an encouragement for the exploration and colonization of the new lands by the Europeans, rapid population growth, and new learning. In addition, it explores and explains reasons as to why Spain and Portugal were the first to be engaged in the exploration of the overseas, as well as, why France and England were slow in challenging the supremacy of Spain in the Americas. The primary sources to be used include Jamestown: 1607, The First Months, Jamestown: 1609-10, Starving Time by, George Percy, Cotton Mather’s The Ecclesiastical History of New-England, and Journey to Pennsylvania in the year 1750 by Gottlieb Mittelberger.
In essence, the Great Awakening was a religious awakening. It started in the South. Tent camps were set up that revolve around high spirited meetings that would last for days. These camp meetings were highly emotional and multitudes of people were filled with the Spirit of God. These meeting, were sponsored mainly by Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterians, and met social needs as well as spiritual needs on the frontier. Since it was hard for the Baptist and Methodist to sustain local churches, they solved the problem by recruiting the non educated to spread the word of God to their neighbors. The camp meetings eventually favored "protracted meetings" in local churches.
The Great Awakening was an event that occurred in the early 18th century characterized by fervent and enthusiastic worship in a series of revivals that spread throughout the American colonies. This event was noted for the growth of the Christian church and the promotion of traditional Puritan views on the issues of election and salvation. The success of the Great Awakening rests in the pluralistic, ecumenical, and sociological efforts of men from various theological backgrounds, yet espousing a unified message of repentance, forgiveness, and hope for the masses. Research available on this period ranges from 18th century newspapers and letters to current literary criticism of discourse of the period. However, the resources selected for this review can be placed into three categories: 1) ministers 2) sermons and correspondence and 3) historic, sociological, and religious significance.
The Great Awakening brought diversity among people. “The spread of religious indifference, of deism, of denominational rivalry and of comfortable backsliding profoundly concerned many Christians.”(American Promise, p.130). Although there was difference in beliefs there was surprisingly closeness amongst all people. Economically everyone was everyone was faced with the same sort of problems. Men were worried of how to provide for their families, women were concerned with taking care of their children, and children were just that they were children. Many people during this time were burdened with poverty, hunger, insufficient amount of clothing, and no one to rely on. When the Great Awakening swept through, this changed how people viewed their situations. They were able to lose themselves in the messages that were being delivered and fellowship with people that were just like them, once again bringing the people closer together.
Many ideals coming out of the Great Awakening had a significant amount of influence on the political literature and rhetoric of the American Revolution. The Great Awakening was started as a resistance to the growing formality of churches in America (The Great Awakening.”). The Great Awakening is commonly known for the “emotional enthusiasm of its participants” when referring to the mass crowds and people fainting frequently from overwhelming emotions (“Lesson 1”). More importantly, the Great Awakening gave American people an identity and a unity the country never before had (“The Great Awakening.”). The Great Awakening encouraged a negative attitude against the British Crown while also creating a moral and religious framework justifying resistance.
The First Great Awakening was a religious revival from the 1730s-70s, where we see an increase in the importance of Christianity, in addition to a challenge to traditional authority. One of the most important causes was known as The Enlightenment. This was a movement away from religion where individuals were becoming more encouraged to make decisions based on reason and logic rather than faith. People were starting to make decisions dependent on experiences and facts, rather than the individual beliefs of their religion. This can be credited to philosophers of that time advocating that, should people want change in their society, they should rely on education and reason to do so. John Locke, an English philosopher was one of the most well known contributors to the beginning of the Enlightenment. Before the Great Awakening, there was an increase in church absenteeism and religions piety was waning, meaning that the people were becoming less pure and less religion. In order to reverse the cause of the Enlightenment, we have people like, Jonathan Edwards, a Christian preacher, who is recognized as starting the Great Awakening, along with the simultaneous migration of German settlers who ignited a spark of Pietism in some New England states.
With the development of a civilized society in America during the 1700s and 1800s, the role religion played in an everyday person's life was becoming more and more diminished. To combat this, a series of religious revivals were set in motion: The Great Awakenings. These were a series of large, sweeping religious, social, and political changes that sought to use the basis of religion to revive faith in a neglected belief, bring about numerous social reforms, and use political factions to great effect upon society's mentality. Although most view the First Great Awakening as the first' and greatest' religious, social, and political influence to American society, the second Great Awakening can be considered far more influential in its religious, social, and political aspects of influence.
The First Great Awakening was an extremely important religious revival that moved through the American colonies. This spiritual revival took place in the American colonies around 1730 to 1760. The First Great Awakening was able to gain a lot of momentum because of the influential preaching that taught the citizens of these colonies that the only way to salvation was by accepting Jesus Christ as their Savior. Many of the colonists believed that they lived proper and just lives by attending church and doing good deeds. It was by the strong influential preaching that took place during the Great Awakening that preachers informed these believers that their works and good deeds would not save them; only salvation through
According to scientists, one of the most extraordinary bursts of evolution ever known was the Cambrian Explosion. For most of the nearly 4 billion years that life has existed on Earth, evolution produced little beyond bacteria, plankton, and multi-celled algae. Then, about between 570 and 530 million years ago, another burst of diversification occurred. This stunning period is termed the "Cambrian explosion," taking the name of the geological age in which the earlier part occurred. A recent study revealed that life evolved during the Cambrian Period at a rate about five times faster than today. But it was certainly not as rapid as an explosion; the changes seems to have taken around 30 million years, and some stages took 5 to 10 million years. The Cambrian explosion was a period of time where life evolved into numerous multifaceted organisms that developed into the vertebrates and human life as we know today.
Several mass extinctions have occurred during the Earth’s history. The Cretaceous – Tertiary Boundary (K-T) Extinction caused the loss of at least three-quarters of all species known at that time including the dinosaurs. The cause of this mass extinction is a controversial subject among scientists but the fossil evidence of it’s occurrence is abundant.
Over the past century, the Burgess Shale has revealed important information about the development of earth’s history. The excavation of the Burgess Shale formation provided evidence for what was once just a theory in evolution. The taphonomic findings of the Burgess Shale have played a significant role in understanding the large diversity that resulted from the Cambrian explosion, advancing the study of evolutionary assemblages for Paleontologists worldwide.
Talking on both sides of the debate, each side feels as though the other has no scientific reasoning come up with their theory. In reading the article written by Shipman, the evolutionists believe that intelligent design has no concrete evidence on how the world was crea...