The Nature of Change: Evolutionary mechanisms give rise to basic structural differences

Without defining “design,” Wells asserts that “many features of living things appear to be designed.” Then he contrasts natural selection (undirected) with design (directed), apparently attempting to return to the pre-Darwinian notion that a Designer is directly responsible for the fit of organisms to their environments. Darwin proposed a scientific rather than a religious explanation: the fit between organisms and environments is the result of natural selection. Like all scientific explanations, his relies on natural causation.

Modern science can now draw on evidence from biological processes.

Wells contends that “Darwin’s theory cannot account for all features of living things,” but then, it doesn’t have to. Today scientists explain features of living things by invoking not only natural selection but also additional biological processes that Darwin didn’t know about, including gene transfer, symbiosis, chromosomal rearrangement, and the action of regulator genes. Contrary to what Wells maintains, evolutionary theory is not inadequate. It fits the evidence just fine.

Darwin’s conclusion that Galápagos finches had a common ancestor is confirmed by modern genetic analysis.

Reading Wells, one might not realize the importance of the Grants’ careful studies, which demonstrated natural selection in real time. That the drought conditions abated before biologists witnessed the emergence of new species is hardly relevant; beak size does oscillate in the short term, but given a long-term trend in climate change, a major change in average size can be expected. Wells also overstates the importance of finch hybridization: it is extremely rare, and it might even be contributing to new speciation. The Galápagos finches remain a marvelous example of the principle of adaptive radiation. The various species, which differ morphologically, occupy different adaptive niches. Darwin’s explanation was that they all evolved from a common ancestral species, and modern genetic analysis provides confirming evidence.

The discovery of _Ubx_ genes shed light on how body plans evolve.

Wells admits that natural selection can operate on a population and correctly looks to genetics to account for the kind of variation that can lead to “new features in new species.” But he contends that mutations such as those that yield four-winged fruit flies do not produce the sorts of anatomical changes needed for major evolutionary change. Can’t he see past the example to the principle? That the first demonstration of a powerful genetic mechanism happened to be a nonflying fly is irrelevant. Edward Lewis shared a Nobel Prize for the discovery of the role of these genes, known as the Ubx complex. They are of extraordinary importance because genes of this type help explain body plans — the basic structural differences between a mollusk and a mosquito, a sponge and a spider.

A very small _Ubx_ change results in a big difference in the body plan of organisms.

Ubx genes are among the HOX genes, found in animals as different as sponges, fruit flies, and mammals. They turn on or off the genes involved in — among other things — body segmentation and the production of appendages such as antennae, legs, and wings. What specifically gets built depends on other, downstream genes. The diverse body plans of arthropods (insects, crustaceans, arachnids) are variations on segmentation and appendage themes, variations that appear to be the result of changes in HOX genes. Recent research shows that fly Ubx genes suppress leg formation in abdominal segments but that crustacean Ubx genes don’t; a very small Ubx change results in a big difference in body plan.

These genes allow for anatomical experimentation.

Mutations in these primary on/off switches are involved in such phenomena as the loss of legs in snakes, the change from lobe fins to hands, and the origin of jaws in vertebrates.HOX-initiated segment duplication allows for anatomical experimentation, and natural selection winnows the result. “Evo-Devo” — the study of evolution and development — is a hot new biological research area, but Wells implies that all it has produced is crippled fruit flies.

Science only has tools for explaining things in terms of natural causes.

Wells argues that natural explanations are inadequate and, thus, that “students should also be taught that design remains a possibility.” Because in his logic, design implies a Designer, he is in effect recommending that science allow for nonnatural causation. We actually do have solid natural explanations to work with, but even if we didn’t, science only has tools for explaining things in terms of natural causation. That’s what Darwin did, and that’s what we’re trying to do today.

An Open Deist Challenge to Christians

This page is intended to reach sincere Christians with the realization that Christianity and the Bible promote falsehoods. Sincere Christians genuinely want to know God better. They have been lied into believing that the Bible is the word of God and that by reading it and believing in it, they are bringing themselves closer to God. This Deist Challenge to Christians should free, or at least help to free, these sincere Christians and allow them to realize that they have been duped into believing that Christianity and the Bible are the way to God. Once sincere Christians realize they have been duped by Christianity, they are free to examine Deism, which teaches that God gave us reason so we can apply it to the designs in Nature and realize that those designs presuppose a Designer of Nature, or God.

The challenge to Christians is to prove Mark 16:18 which says those who believe in the Gospels will be able to "lay their hands on the sick, and they shall recover." If this is true, then Christians would be able to go to any sick person anywhere and lay their Christian hands on them, and they would recover. The fact that we have millions of very sick people around the world tells us that either this Bible promise is false or that Christians really don't care about the sick, otherwise they would lay their hands on them and they would be healed! And if they could in fact heal people, there would be no need for doctors, nurses, hospitals, health care or Michael Moore's new documentary, Sicko!

The World Union of Deists hereby challenges Christian clergy to demonstrate the truth of this Bible promise before the world. Christian clergy should make arrangements by emailing me at bob@deism.com to conduct a verifiable public healing of a terminally ill person. If a member of the Christian clergy, or any Christian, contacts me to meet this Deist challenge, I will make all arrangements for the test of this Biblical promise and will post the information here along with the results of the test.

The falsehoods of the Bible need to be exposed so people can make progress in their lives and in society. As Thomas Paine wrote, "It is an affront to truth to treat falsehoods with complaisance."

THE INTRODUCTION: WHY SHOULD WE TEACH OUR CHILDREN TO BE DEISTS?

All people are a mixture of good and evil. Some people are relatively good, while others are relatively evil. What accounts for this difference? One of the greatest factors is education. Children who are taught to be relatively good tend to stay relatively good, and children who are taught to be relatively evil tend to stay relatively evil. Deism is probably the best beginning for a personal philosophy because it is based on two great ideas.

The first of these great ideas is that we should base our beliefs on reason. Reason is one's ability to perceive reality as honestly and completely as one can, and then make logical conclusions based on what one perceives. Unless one is relying on reason, one is relying on superstitious thinking. Reason tends to embrace facts, and superstitious thinking tends to embrace superstitions. A superstition is a belief that is not based on reason. It is important to accept facts and reject lies because we have to understand reality to deal with it wisely. If a train is headed for us, we should use reason and get out of the way. We should not grab our lucky rabbit's foot and hope that the train misses us.

Not only does reason help us cope with reality, it also helps us be more moral. Mediaeval witch-hunts, the trial of Galileo, the Spanish Inquisition, and the current Arab-Israeli conflict are all examples of evil caused largely by superstitious thinking—or, if you prefer, a lack of reason.

The second of these great ideas is that reason leads us to believe that God exists. Here God does not mean the deity of the Bible or Koran. It means the real Supreme Being who purposefully created the universe, whoever the real Supreme Being is, which is probably not the deity of the Bible or Koran. The universe seems designed. Therefore, it probably has a Designer. The universe is also full of things that exist. How did those things get here? One thing caused another, and that other thing caused something else, and so forth.

Consider a human—me—for example. What caused me to exist? Here is the probable chain of events as I understand them: I am a human who came from other humans, and the first humans came from apes, and the first apes came from some other kind of mammal, and the first mammal came from a reptile, and the first reptile came from an amphibian, and the first amphibian came from a fish, and the first fish came from some other kind of multi-celled aquatic creature, and the first multi-celled aquatic creature came from a single-celled aquatic creature, and the first single-celled aquatic creature came from the Earth, and the Earth came from a nebula, and the nebula came from the galaxy, and the galaxy came from the Big Bang, and the Big Bang came from . . . something. Was that something God or a quantum fluctuation? Remembering the Argument from Design, we should conclude that that something is probably God.

Is God completely good? I don't know for certain. But there are some facts which indicate that God is, and there is every motivation to hope that God is. Assuming that God is completely good, that gives us much inspiration to be good. To be like God, we must be relatively good, and being relatively evil is contrary to the way we are meant to be.

With these thoughts in mind, I offer a series of lesson plans to help parents raise their children to be good Deists. I propose that parents spend about ten to twenty minutes a week educating their children in Deism and Deist-friendly philosophy to help their children be the best that they can be. I have a child, and I call this brief time together Philosophy Time. Remember that if you do not educate your child with your beliefs, other people will educate her or him with their beliefs; and there is a very good chance that you will strongly disagree with what those other people are teaching your child!

This reminds me of a friendly warning: Please carefully read these lessons before you try to teach them to your child. Some of the subjects mentioned in these lessons might not be suitable for younger children. Whether you need it or not, you have my permission to change any of these lessons to align completely with your beliefs and your child's needs. Just make sure that you document these changes accurately. I want you to get the credit for your ideas, and I want everyone else to get the credit for their ideas.

Lastly, this education series is an ongoing endeavor. (It had better be, because, at this time, I don't have nearly enough lesson ideas.) So please send me lesson ideas or, better yet, complete lessons so that we can make a Deist education series which is at least as good as any other religion's or philosophy's. You can email your lesson ideas to me at jayson@deism.com. I am particularly interested in Deist lessons from a multi-cultural perspective.

May reason prevail!

Jayson X
Public School Teacher
and Deist

An open letter to the members of the Baha’i Faith

Embracing Deist thought was not so much a matter of me leaving the Baha’i Faith as much as evolving out of it. One of the most important imperatives that I learned as a Baha’i was the independent investigation of the truth. It was always a firm conviction of mine that the search for the truth was not something to be taken lightly, nor did it concern finality. Truth is something that always needs to be sought after. Religious truth has always been a vocation of mine, an innate impulse and desire to know and understand more, no matter what the cost.

I must confess that after leaving the Baha’is, I did try my hand at Christianity, so to speak, but found the narrow mindset, puerile dogma and fatuous doctrines more of the same rhetoric with just a different nomenclature.

I realized upon discovering a copy of the book The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine and reading it, that another piece of the puzzle had yet been unfolded to me. Paine’s logic, argument and reasoning gave me a framework to unshackle my mind and to see the religions for what they were, man-made creations.

The concept or doctrine so often quoted by the Baha’is of “Progressive Revelation” is flawed from several points. If God could not seem to “get it right” the first time with Adam, what makes a believer think that successive “Manifestations” or “Prophets” will fair any better? I used to believe as a Baha’i that the common foundation of all religions was one. (An essential Baha’i teaching), meaning that God authored them all. Now, I have come to understand, with an altered point of view, that yes, they do come from the same source, the hands of men who believed, for whatever reason, that they were chosen by God, the Creator of the Universe, who being so concerned with this tiny rotating speck of dust, to guide the rest of us unfortunate souls and entrusted these “Manifestations” with “His message”.

One only needs to study religious history to understand the convoluted nonsense of these “Holy Books” and the resulting bloody swath that they have cut through the ages of humanity, up to our present day. Read, watch or listen to the daily headlines from your preferred media source, television, newspapers, books or the internet to catch up on the latest religious atrocity, bombing or act of genocide. I must emphasize that humanity has evolved and advanced, not as the Baha’i writings contend, because of religion and progressive revelations, but in spite of it. The Baha’i Faith did not usher in a “New age for mankind”, that began in the 17^th and 18^th centuries with enlightenment thinkers like Voltaire, Locke, Paine, Jefferson and Franklin. These thinking and conscientious men turned their backs on religion and revelation and used God’s gift of the mind, free-will and reason to forge ahead a new and progressive age for humanity, divested of the religious superstitions and institutions that have for centuries imprisoned the minds and souls of men and women.

Baha’i friends, use your minds, investigate the truth and do not settle for a system of religious dogma that relies on “institutional infallibility”. Think for yourself. Free your mind and reason or imprison it. The choice is most certainly yours.

From Christian Orthodox Priest to Active Deist

I'd like to welcome Jayson X to Deism and the World Union of Deists! Jayson is a former Christian Orthodox Priest who, because of his thirst for truth and his honesty, has become a Deist. I look forward to working with Jayson as we spread the word far and wide about Deism! The power of Deism is demonstrated by its winning over of fellow Deist Ray Fontaine who was a Roman Catholic Priest for over 20 years, the winning over of life long Atheist turned Deist Antony Flew and now former Christian Orthodox Priest Jayson X, not to mention thousands of people who weren't in the clergy or leaders in their worldview but who strongly held opposing beliefs. The reason based simplicity and beauty of Deism that points us to Nature's God cannot be stopped! However, living in a society where "revealed" religions have so much power and influence, it is sometimes necessary to do as many of America's Founders did prior to the American Revolution and use a pseudonym as the author of the below article is doing. Bob Johnson, Founder and Director of the World Union of Deists.