Talk

unquestioned faith

Atheists and scientists often accuse people with religious inclinations of unquestioned obedience. However scientist's can often be guilty of the same perversion. Too often we take Darwin's theory as a given fundamental truth. All evidence is hammered and moulded to fit evolution.

A new book (of Moths and Men: Intrigue, Tragedy and the peppered moth by Judith Hopper) describes how the scientific community took doctured evidence without question because it conformed to the Darwinian theory.

The essential theory was that in the 19th century a black or melanic form of the peppered moth appeared in Manchester. The theory assumed that in polluted areas (which Manchester was) the black moth was better hidden than the white moth and hence as a result of "survival of the fittest" was not eaten by the birds. The genetic trait (being black) propogated rapidly down the black peppered moths.

The only issue was that no one had actually seen birds eat the moth of the bark of the trees. In 1953 evidence was presented by Bernard Kettlewell that the white moths were indeed being eaten at a higher rate than the black moth in polluted areas. However the evidence was fake. There were pictures of dead moths on a dead branch. But the scientific community accepted the evidence without inquiry.