From: Joe Morlan                                       Posted: 12 Oct 94  11:53
To  : David Rice                                     Received: 15 Oct 94  20:01
Subj: SCI-CRE FALSIFIED?

   ***** On 10-07-1994, David Rice wrote to Arthur Biele *****

DR> #1: =WHAT= "Creation Theory?" I have never seen, read, or
DR> heard of one,

Ahem.  Here is version 1.1

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THE LONG AWAITED THEORY OF CREATIONISM

The theory of scientific creation states that all living species
were created as they are now and all extinct species were created
as they were then.

The primary scientific evidence for creation is that species
breed true.  Species do not give birth to new species. Lizards
beget lizards and amoebas beget amoebas. There is ample
scientific evidence that species reproduce themselves.

Note that this makes no unsupported assumptions, nor does it
invoke any supernatural entities. The Theory of Creation is thus
more parsimonious than the theory of evolution, which states that
species evolve into new species, either suddenly or by gradual
steps.

The theory of creation goes beyond the phenomenon of evolution
which is limited to such things as the development of disease or
poison resistance via natural selection and differential
reproductive success.  But evolution, by definition, acts only at
the level of a population (or deme) while Creation applies to the
inter-population level.  Natural selection reduces diversity
within populations and does not predict or explain the diversity
of life on the planet while Creation does.

The fossil record is replete with examples of creation.  New
species appear, and life itself appears suddenly in the fossil
record.

Further research is needed to establish the mechanisms for these
well documented examples of creation, but current theory holds
that these creation events imply the existence of a Creator. Note
that the existence of this Creator is a conclusion of the theory
of scientific creationism and not a basic assumption or premise
of it.

Mechanisms of creation may include any natural mechanism such as
allopatric speciation which result in new species.  Isolation,
genetic drift, and secondary contact are the most likely
mechanisms of creation, although polyploidy and possibly other
mechanisms may occur occasionally.  Note that these mechanisms
are not examples of evolution because they are not confined to
changes in allele frequency within a population as required to be
considered examples of evolution.

GLOSSARY

Creation -  Any event resulting in new biological species.
Creator  -  Any agent of creation.
Evolution - A change in allele frequency in a population over
            time.
Population- A group of interbreeding organisms.
Species  -  A population of actually or potentially interbreeding
            individuals which are reproductively isolated from
            other such populations, and which occupy a specific
            niche in nature.
Theory -    A scientific formulation which is:
            1. Guided by natural law;
            2. Explanatory by reference to natural law;
            3. Testable against the empirical world;
            4. Tentative; i.e., not necessarily the final word;
            5. Falsifiable"

DISCUSSION

The theory of creation makes a number of testable predictions.
E.g. it predicts that life will be organized into discontinuous,
reproductively isolated population (species).  The Theory of
Evolution makes no such prediction, and there is no a priori
reason to expect life will be organized into discrete species.

Furthermore the Theory of Creation predicts that there will be
evidence of creation events.  Such evidence is abundant in the
fossil record with new species and life itself appearing at
various strata.  The Theory of Evolution makes no such
predictions and fails to predict the occurrence of abiogenesis.
In fact, a logical extension of the Theory of Evolution predicts
that no evidence of abiogenesis will be found because all life is
theorized to have evolved from pre-existing life.  Thus it is
Evolution which is falsified by the data, not Creation.

The Theory of Creation is falsifiable.  If it were found that
life were not organized into discrete, discontinuous,
reproductively isolated populations, that would disprove
Creation.  If evidence were found that life always existed, that
would also falsify the Theory of Creation.

I welcome suggestions for improvement.